King's Return
by Bard15
Summary: Deeks gets caught up in the middle of a kidnapping...and now agents from two bureaus must work together to get their agents back alive. NOW COMPLETE !
1. Chapter 1

**KING'S RETURN**

X-Over w/ NUMB3RS-featuring Colby & Deeks

A/N: Remember Stan King from "The Job" (NCIS LA), I always felt he could have been a really intense bad guy had they had the time to develop the character...so I'm gonna '_try' _to flesh him out and whump some of our (my) favorites in the process.

This story is mildly AU as I I'm mangling time lines to get these shows to fit together...takes place a year after Colby's whole "spy" fiasco and any time after "The Job" in NCIS. I know absolutely nothing about surfing so if the brief surfing scene is off...give over to creative license and move on! Also, I can barely teach third grade math so this story will be Charlie (math) light... (this is a stand-alone and is not part of my "Interagency Co-op AU 'verse...)

**...ncis la...numb3rs...ncis la...numb3rs...ncis la...**

Marty Deeks sat on his board as it gently bobbed in the swells, his eyes casually roaming over the few early morning surfers and beach-goers. It was mid-week so few people were out.

He quirked his head when he saw a young man walk onto the beach carrying a board, something about the man struck him as familiar but he couldn't quite place it. He didn't recall seeing the guy on this particular stretch of beach before...and he wracked his brain to match the face up to any case he'd worked in the last year, also coming up blank.

Marty settled for just watching the blonde headed man. To the casual observer he seemed relaxed, but Marty recognized that slight tenseness to his stance as the man looked up and down the beach like he was looking for something or someone; and that finding it was not necessarily going to be pleasant.

The detective scanned the beach, just as the other man had done...looking for what, he wasn't sure. The few beach goers seemed harmless enough, and there were a few early morning fishermen on the nearby pier...nothing out of the ordinary on this beach: but if he had learned one thing from his time as an undercover and with NCIS is that looks can be deceiving.

Marty continued to watch as the man seemed satisfied with his surroundings and headed for the water.

The man paddled out into the water and sat up on his board about 20 feet from where Deeks sat on his board, asking casually, "Waves any good this morning?"

"Just got out here my-self, haven't caught any yet," Deeks replied. "They usually run twenty or thirty feet on a good day, but it seems a bit calm today, don't know if we'll catch any good ones."

The man just nodded as he scanned the area, "Sounds like you surf this area a lot."

"As often as work allows," Deeks replied.

"I hear that," the man agreed.

After several more minutes they each found their wave and moved off in different directions.

After another forty minutes of less than satisfying waves Deeks gave a frustrated sigh and began paddling to shore...he was due in Ops in another hour anyway. He noted that the man he had spoken with earlier was already out of the water and heading up the beach.

Marty toweled off quickly and headed in the direction of the parking lot. As he was stowing his board, a disturbance several aisles over sent his "cop" radar into overdrive as the sounds of flesh on flesh met his ears.

Quickly reaching into his glove box, he pulled his service weapon and cell before making his way carefully around the cars. What he saw was three on one...that one being the man he just met on the beach less than an hour before.

The man seemed to be holding his own against his three assailants, making Deeks wonder at the man's "skill" set, maybe he was military like Sam; but the hooded assailants weren't in to playing fair (like three on one was fair) as one quickly produced a taser and brought the blonde down in seconds, spurring Deeks into action.

"LAPD...freeze," Deeks yelled as he came out from around a car to face the assailants. "Move away now."

The three men looked up in surprise, raising their hands out to their sides and taking a few steps back from the downed man. "Really, guys, three on one—**and**, a Taser; you boys have serious performance issues...on the ground, now..."

The men exchanged uneasy glances, and slowly began to do as instructed, while Marty flipped his phone to call the PD for backup. With the detectives attention split between the assailants and his cell he failed to see the fourth man edging around the van behind him.

"This is Detective Deeks, I'm at the seventh street pier parking lot, need back up for an..." the phone call was left unfinished as both the cell and the gun clattered to the ground from suddenly nerveless fingers as another taser made contact with flesh.

The fourth man came up slowly and crushed the dropped cell before nudging the unconscious detective over with his foot. He raised his eyebrows in surprise, "Well, well, well, what do we have here, small world...if it isn't detective Deeks."

The three other assailants just looked at the fourth man expectantly, who merely waved his hand over both downed men, "Load them both up."

None to gently, the three men hoisted the two unconscious men into the back of the windowless van and without any additional difficulty, left the parking lot.

...ncis la...numb3rs...ncis la...numb3rs...

The three agents were sitting at their desks in the bull pen, diligently trying to make some headway with the backlog of paper work in their boxes when Kensi gave a tired sigh and leaned back in her seat with a frown.

She looked at the clock, then looked at her partners 'empty' chair, and frowned. "Anyone seen Deeks today...it's almost ten thirty..."

At the question, Callen leaned back in his chair with a frown; while the detective did seem to be chronometrically challenged at times, he was never this late without reason. "Have you tried calling him?"

Kensi shook her head and pulled out her cell, her frown deepening as she listened to the message.

"Kens..." Callen asked with growing concern.

"It's...it's not even going to voice mail; I'm getting an out of service message..." Kensi answered with confusion, mixed with concern.

"He didn't get an undercover from the PD did he," Sam asked.

"Surely he would have said something yesterday if he had an LAPD job," Kensi replied.

Just then a whistle from Eric got their attention, the tight look on the young tech's face ratcheting up the three agents sudden worry for the detective when Eric said, "We just got a call from LAPD...we have a new case..."

They exchanged worried glances before heading quickly up the stairs to ops.

Barely in the door, Kensi demanded, "Hetty, has something happened to Deeks?"

Lips pursed, her face also holding a concerned frown, Hetty merely indicated Eric should cue up the screen.

"At approximately eight forty this morning the LAPD dispatch got a call from Deeks requesting back up at the seventh street pier..."

"Back up for what," Sam asked.

Eric just shook his head, "He never got that far, his phone call was cut off and when dispatch tried to re-establish contact they received an out of service message. When they got to the scene they found Deeks cell, destroyed, and his service weapon, just lying in the parking lot...and no sign of Deeks; they also found blood at the scene."

"Deeks," Sam questioned.

"Forensics is running it as we speak. As soon as they know they'll contact us," Eric replied.

"Cameras," Callen asked.

"There are cameras at each of the four corners of the parking lot...I stated cueing them up after the call from LAPD," Eric said as he pressed several buttons on his hand held.

The agents watched as several people filed in and out of the parking lot, then a blonde headed man came into view in the lower right corner of the screen...as he passed by a dark green windowless van, three men jumped out and attacked him.

"That boys got some moves...I recognize the defense pattern...he's definitely military," Sam commented as he watched the young man defend against his three assailants.

Everyone in ops winced when they saw the man go down with a taser hit at about the same time Deeks came into view; they watched as the detective obviously ordered the men to desist, and start to place the call when a fourth man appeared around the van and tasered the detective.

"Eric, plates..." Callen demanded, as they continued to watch both men being hoisted into the van.

"No plates...they knew what they were doing." Eric replied.

"Kaleidoscope," Kensi asked.

"Pulling up surrounding traffic cam footage now," Nell said.

"Do we have an ID on the other man, he was the original target; if we ID him we might have an ID on the kidnappers," Callen asked.

"It's running through AFIS and DMV records now," Eric said.

"What I don't understand is-why take Deeks...if they didn't want witnesses, why not kill him...why burden yourself with another hostage," Sam mused.

"Cleaning up after themselves...a body would get quick attention...but if Deeks hadn't started the LAPD call this might not have been discovered for several more hours; maybe days," Callen offered.

"Uh, guys...we got a match on the guy that was attacked," Eric said, his voice full on uncertainty, "he's FBI...and Sam's right; he is also ex-military...army special ops... and CID."

The agents looked to the main view screen as each of the ID's popped up on the screen.

"His name in Colby Granger and he works for the special crimes unit of the LA FBI..." Eric said.

"Someone like that...they can have a lot of enemies," Sam commented.

"Do the feds know their man is missing," Callen asked Eric.

"They didn't have him ID'd when they first contacted us twenty minutes ago, so I doubt the FBI has been contacted, unless some kind of demands were made," Eric explained.

"Let's head to the FBI office, find out what Agent Granger was working on," Callen said.

**...ncis la...numb3rs...ncis la...numb3rs...**

"We need to speak to Agent Epps," Callen asked the first agent they saw when they stepped off the elevator at the FBI building.

The agent pointed towards the war room before moving off.

Don looked up from his debate with his brother when the three strangers came into the room. "Can I help you with something?"

"Agent Epps," Callen questioned.

"Yeah, I'm Epps...and you are..."

The three agents flipped open their badges, "Agent Callen, agent Hannah and agent Blye."

"And what can I do for NCIS," Don asked warily.

"We're here about your agent, Colby Granger..."

"Colby...why..." Don demanded defensively.

"Are you aware your agent was abducted from the Seventh Street pier parking lot, this morning..." Callen said.

"Don," Charlie gasped quietly, looking at his bother in shock.

Waving his brother off for the moment, Don exclaimed, "Excuse me...what are you talking about..."

"What was your man working on," Sam asked.

"Nothing at the moment...we just wrapped up a counterfeiting case two days ago...my team had a few days off..." Don explained, countering, "...how do you know Granger was abducted?"

"Because he was taken this morning along with an LAPD detective, Marty Deeks...our liaison office..." Sam said.

Running a frustrated hand through his short hair, Don huffed out angrily, "Why am I just now hearing about this?"

"We found out less than an hour ago when LAPD contacted us because of Deeks," Callen defended lightly. "We have the video footage of the kidnapping...maybe you can recognize something."

Charlie quickly cued up the footage of the mornings events and the room was silent as they watched the kidnapping.

When it was over, Don commented, "So Colby was the target and your man got in the way."

"Something like that," Sam said. "You know of anyone who would target your agent?"

With a heavy sigh, Don replied, "In this job...with Colby's past experiences...it could be any number of people; this isn't the only agency he's worked for."

"Yeah, he did a stint with army CID, and special ops in Afghanistan; the boy has a lot of classified files..." Sam said.

"So you know narrowing down Colby's enemies is not going to be easy," Don said.

"Don, I can help...I can run an analysis of..." Charlie began, only to be waved off by this brother.

"Don't explain it just run everything you got Charlie..." Don said, adding, "I need to call David and Megan back in, and let the director know; if you'll excuse me for a moment."

**...ncis la...numb3ers...ncis la...ncis la...**

Colby came to with a pained groan trying to piece together in his addled brain why everything hurt so much...the case was over; arrest went off without a hitch...he remembered surfing, but couldn't recall getting dumped from any wave with the force to cause his current level of discomfort.

Finally deciding the only way to get answers was to open his eyes he cracked them open slowly...his confusion only increasing as his addled mind sluggishly processed his surroundings; which were totally unfamiliar to him.

The pain, coupled with unfamiliar surroundings and the sudden realization that his hands were bound behind his back lead him to the unfortunate conclusion that he might just be in some kind of trouble (and wasn't that just like his luck); but from whom and why was still a mystery to fuzzy brain.

Colby was startled from his thoughts by a groan coming from behind him, and he attempted with his rather limited range of motion to look behind him. He saw another blonde headed man slumped and tied to a chair in a similar fashion as himself...so he wasn't the only one invited to the party; but as the man was equally unfamiliar to him it did little to shed light on his current predicament.

"Hey, you alright...hey, man, you need to wake up...we need to figure out what's going on here," Colby cajoled the stranger, hoping the man could shed light on the situation.

With his head still bowed, the man squirmed in his chair, coming to the same conclusion about his situation as Colby had just moments before and huffing out in frustration, "Tasers...really...damn those hurt..."

"Is that why my muscles feel so cramped up," Colby commented causing the other man's head to shoot up in surprise.

Though Colby was looking over his shoulder at an odd angle the two men still managed to lock eyes...sizing each other up in seconds.

"So who are your friends," Deeks asked, nodding his head towards the closed door.

"Wish I knew...never saw their faces; did you get a look at them," Colby asked hopefully.

"Nope," Deeks replied, before looking down then behind him trying to assess how trapped he was in the chair.

"Whoever tied them knew what they were doing...without a knife you're not getting out of the ropes," Colby supplied.

Deeks just scowled at the other man, continuing to squirm and wiggle around in his bonds for several more moments before giving a curse of frustration.

Colby just shrugged in an apologetic, yet 'I told you so', kind of way. "So how did you get invited to the party?"

"Trying to stop them from beating the crap out of you; you're sure you don't know who these guys are," Deeks asked more forcefully.

"Unfortunately I have a long list of enemies...it could be any number of people," Colby answered dejectedly.

"So making friends and influencing people not a high priority for you, huh..." Deeks snarked, as his eyed wondered around the room.

"Making friends is not exactly in the job description..." Colby said with a wry chuckle and shake of his head.

Raising an eyebrow, Deeks asked, "And that job would be?"

"FBI..Colby Granger; and what about you, not just anybody would try to intervene in a fight..."

"Yeah, well, comes with the job description...detective, LAPD," Deeks replied. "...and its Marty Deeks."

"Fed, huh, you must have really pissed someone off if they are willing to risk abducting an FBI agent..." Marty commented.

"Some of my enemies see the FBI as about as big of a threat as the neighborhood watch," Colby answered tightly.

"Oh, that just fills me with confidence," Deeks groused. "Well, someone should be looking for us by now...I managed to get a call through to LAPD before we were taken...hopefully Eric and Nell will do their magic and find the van..."

"Yeah, when Don finds out, Charlie will be all over this with his math 'whats-its things'...we should get out of this in no time," Colby said.

"So all we have to do is stay alive until the cavalry arrives," Deeks said.

"Yeah, piece of cake," Colby answered with sarcasm. "These people grabbed an FBI agent and a cop...somehow, I don't think they have a lot of fear of being found out."

"Ah, but you don't know my team...they can work miracles," Deeks said airily.

"I think this may be beyond the scope of the LAPD," Colby countered.

Deeks gave a snort, "Not LAPD...my team at NCIS..."

"Naval Criminal Investigative Services...thought you said you were a detective," Colby asked in confusion.

"LAPD liaison **to** NCIS...too many overlapping cases...so now I work both sides of the fence," Deeks answered.

** ...ncis la...numb3rs...ncis la...numb3rs...**

Though each team knew it was a long shot they each searched the apartments of their missing agents in hopes of finding a clue to their whereabouts, only to, as expected, come up empty handed. A quick search of the crime scene was equally disappointing.

By mid-afternoon the agents were reconvened at the boat shed.

"The van was found by an LAPD patrol about an thirty minutes ago, —they're holding the area for us...it was reported stolen from a used car lot yesterday evening," Eric reported to the two teams assembled at the boat shed. "There are no traffic cams in the area where it was abandoned."

"And so far no demands, no one taking credit..."Sam interjected.

"And no bodies...we have to believe that they are both still alive," Megan said.

"Yeah, but for how long...we don't know who targeted your man and Deeks was just caught up in it...they didn't target him; he doesn't fit into whatever plans they have..." Callen commented.

"No, don't say it...he's not dead..."Kensi snapped. "I need some air."

They all watched her go...Sam started to follow, but Callen stopped him with a hand to his arm. "She needs some space Sam...this is hardest on her..."

Sam just nodded, noting the other agent's expectant looks he supplied, "Deeks is Kens i's partner."

They nodded in understanding, David exchanging a quick look with Don before heading in the same direction as Kensi.

When the same expectant look was thrown Don's way by Sam and Callen, the agent said, "Colby is David's partner...maybe they can help each other."

"Guys, I think we might have finally something," Nell said.

They turned to the screen expectantly as Nell continued, "We may have lost the van in late rush hour traffic after the kidnapping but we went back to the dealership where the van was stolen and pulled up traffic cam footage in the area...I have footage of the robbery and backtracking a little I got a clear shot of the car they drove to the dealership, and I ran the plates..."

Eric picked up the narrative as a driver's license popped up on the screen, "The car is registered to a Marco Pomeroy; ran the other guy through the facial rec software and DMV records and got a hit on a Patrick Donahue. They both have records for theft and assault. I'm sending their last known addresses to your phones."

"Great job guys," Callen said, turning to Don he asked. "So how we gonna do this?"

**...ncis la...numb3rs...ncis la...numb3rs...**

David found Kensi leaning on the rail outside of the boat shed, her eyes absently watching the surfers out on the waves.

He stood there for several moments, his eyes also taking in the activity at the beach

"Your partner...Deeks; he was at the beach, he's a surfer," David said, never taking his eyes off the waves, "Colby loves it out there..."

"Yeah, Deeks spends a majority of his off time surfing," She replied quietly, adding with a small chuckle, "I'm surprised he hasn't gotten eaten by a shark."

David returned the chuckle; then sobered as he added, "I'm sorry your partner got caught up in this..."

"He couldn't have walked away, even if he wasn't a cop," Kensi explained, "It's in his nature to help anyone who needs it."

He turned to look at her, "Yeah, sounds like Colby; just a big overgrown boy scout."

"I wouldn't go so far as call Deeks a boy scout...buy yeah, I know what you mean," Kensi said with a wry grin.

"We'll get them back; I won't accept any other option...I almost lost him once before and I swore it wouldn't happen again," David said emphatically, his voice low and tight with suppressed emotion.

Kensi reached out and laid a comforting hand on his shoulder, "They're both good men...and until we get them back we have to believe that they'll have each other's backs."

David just nodded, "Guess we better get back inside; figure out how we're gonna get our partners back."

**...ncis la...numb3rs...ncis la...numb3rs...**

**A/N: sorry, started another one without finishing up others...just got to many ideas floating around in my head**


	2. Chapter 2

KING'S RETURN

/Chapter 2/

Both men had long since given up their attempts to free themselves from their bonds, and simply sat in silence; each lost in their own thoughts.

"Man, this is gettin' old...I'm bored," Deeks grumbled, before looking towards the closed door and giving a loud shout, "Hey, anyone out there...come on, introduce yourselves...you went through all the trouble to invite us over..."

Colby just looked at him like he was crazy. "What are you doing man..."

"Trying to get someone's attention...if we can get a look at them we can at least, maybe, figure out what they want," Deeks shot back, "We're certainly not accomplishing anything just sitting here."

"Yeah, so let's get the bad guys attention, maybe they'll shot us sooner rather than later," Colby grumbled.

Raising expectant eyebrows, Deeks retorted, "You got a better plan, I'm all ears, dude."

No, he didn't have a better plan, hell, he didn't have **any** plan; and that was the problem; that and the guilt he felt that someone else had gotten caught up in his abduction. It didn't matter that the other man obviously wasn't a civilian, that he had law enforcement experience; it boiled down to the man just being unfortunate enough to be in the wrong place, wrong time. If the detective died, it was on him.

Deeks watched as Colby just shook his head, his lips pursing into a tight grimace; and though the man was looking at him, he seemed to not be seeing him.

"Hey, you alright...I mean, you're not hurt or anything, are you," Deeks asked with sudden concern.

Deeks voice pulled Colby from his guilty thoughts and the young agent gave a frustrated sigh, "Nah, I'm fine...just...I'm sorry about all this; you shouldn't have got caught up in all of this...whatever, this is."

"Cop, remember...so, uh, not really in the habit of ignoring a 'crime in progress'...so, no sorry's are needed; and somehow I get the idea that if the situation were reversed you wouldn't be the type to walk away either," Deeks supplied.

"Yeah, well, still doesn't make me feel any better," Colby said.

Suddenly serious, Deeks said pointedly, "Look, dude, I know it looks bad; but we got two government agencies and the LAPD out lookin' for us...and I don't know about your team, but I do know mine, and they will tear this town apart until they find us...**they hate to lose**."

The detective's thoughts slipped back to those early months with the team, how hard it was to be accepted...how he felt like such an outsider and was seriously rethinking the whole 'liaison position' when Hetty had finally filled told him of Dom; how they had lost the young agent. Marty was not about to put the team through that kind of loss again...not if he was able to do something about it.

Deeks pulled himself away from those thoughts with a wry chuckle, "...and god forbid the bad guy that dares get in the way of my partner when she's on a mission; The Terminator has nothing on Agent Kensi Blye..."

Colby couldn't help but chuckle, "You got one of those too...mine is a real laid back kinda guy, but by now...let's just say, David can get scarily intense when pushed..."

Deeks gave a quiet sigh, "So we have faith in our teams—our partners...and we have **each other's** backs on this..."

Colby looked at Deeks and gave a nod of agreement; then turned towards the door and gave a shout, "Hey, my 'partner' and I are still waiting...show yourselves..."

Deeks gave a grin, adding, "Don't be shy...you invited us remember..."

The two men watched with bated breath as the door suddenly began to open...

**...ncis la...numb3rs...ncis la...numb3rs...**

A/N: yeah, shouldn't be much of a cliffy...since the bad guys name is in the title and all...


	3. Chapter 3

**KING'S RETURN**

/Chapter 3/

The 'distribution' of assignments did not set well with Kensi or David, and both protested vehemently only to be told in no uncertain terms that they were lucky to not be benched, as they were both to "close" to the case and that neither agency was willing to risk the case, or of finding the detective and agent, because either of the missing men's partners had "lost it" on a suspect.

"Of course I'm close to the case, it's my partner, damn it! Doesn't mean I can't do my job," Kensi ranted as she and David slid into her car. "Not like they're not just as close to it...Deeks **is** part of the team."

David nodded, sharing in Kensi's frustration at being relegated to the side lines of the investigation into their partners' abductions, "Same here, what's the point of us just standing around while LAPD tows the van and does the forensics..."

Kensi bobbed her head in agreement, "Well, they can't keep us out of the case for long. It will take us a few hours—tops, to find out what we already know; that these guys are too good to have left any evidence behind."

They soon pulled up the crime scene to inspect the abandoned van.

**...ncis la...numb3rs...ncis la...numb3rs...**

Sam and Callen pulled up in front of a rather dilapidated looking, single story house with peeling and faded paint that has long since lost its original color and now just sported a sickly gray shade.

The two agents sat for a moment taking in the house and surrounding area...noting that there was no vehicle parked in front of the house.

"Doesn't look like Demarco's home at the moment," Callen commented.

"Give us a chance to search...see if we can find who he's working for, a two bit hood isn't going to graduate to kidnapping without help," Sam commented.

The men left the SUV and cautiously made their way to the house and were soon inside; which was just as ill-kept and dirty as the outside.

"No computer...no phone..." Sam groused as he looked around the living room.

They searched the house quickly, finding a map of the Seventh Street pier area sitting on the kitchen table; obvious escape routes mapped out to account for morning LA traffic patterns; plus several photos of agent Granger, both on the job an off duty from the manner of dress depicted in the pictures.

"This definitely wasn't random...they've been watching him for a while," Sam said as he handed a few pictures to Callen.

"We need to get LAPD to watch the house, pick up Pomeroy when he shows back up at the house," Callen said as he pulled his cell, "I'm gonna have Eric look into Pomeroy's record, find out who he did time with...see if we can track down any of his associates..."

They both headed back towards the SUV, Callen speaking with Eric while Sam called the LAPD.

**...ncis la...numb3rs...ncis la...numb3rs...ncis la...**

In an equally run down area of LA, a few miles away, Don and Megan were pulling up in front of an equally disreputable establishment..."Tootsie's Bar". They got out of the car and gave their surroundings the same cautious scrutiny Sam and Callen gave theirs; noting half the dirty store fronts sporting 'Closed' or 'Out of Business' signs.

They took the stairs to the second floor over the bar where the suspect was last known to have an address in one of the rooms for let. A quick knock got no response so the agents entered the premises, mirroring Sam and Callen as they searched the small room; and coming up with only a few photos of Colby.

"I wonder how long they've been watching him," Megan asked.

Looking at the pictures, Don replied tightly, "This one...it was three weeks ago...at the crime scene over on Wilshire..."

"This is looking more and more like it is professional and not revenge motivated...it's too thorough, to well thought out and coordinated," Megan mused aloud.

"Definitely not something this guy or Pomeroy could pull off alone, they have to working for someone," Don said. "We gotta find one of these guys; and soon."

Deciding to check for their suspect in the bar they made their way inside; showing itself to be as run-down on the inside as it was on the outside...the area was shadowed, the smoke heavy and the music tinny from the old juke box.

Being middy there were few patrons...a few were at the bar and several more were towards the back at the pool tables; and all of them looked at the agents with open suspicion and disdain.

The greasy, over-weight bar tender looked at the approaching agents with disinterest, asking pointedly, "You two lost?"

"Not really," Don said, flipping open his badge.

Without seeing behind them, Don and Megan could feel the atmosphere in the bar change, become more tense.

The bar tender snorted, "Feds? What the hell do the feds want around here?"

"This man," Megan said, pulling up the suspects picture on her cell phone, "we need to speak to him; you happen to know where he might be?"

"Do I look like his keeper...her rents a room upstairs; usually pays on time...hasn't given me any trouble since he's been here," the man groused, "that's all I need to know about him."

"When was the last time you saw him." Don pressed.

"Two days ago, maybe...he and his buddies were in here all holed up at the corner table," the man shrugged indifferently.

"Was he with this man," Megan held up her phone again, this time with Pomeroy's photo.

"Yeah, guess it looks like one of them," the bar tender replied.

"You guess...well, do you know who else was with him," Don prodded, growing impatient with the man's reticence.

"Some other guy, kid really, don't know, never seen him 'round before," the bartender answered casually.

"And none of them have been back since the last time you saw them," Don asked impatiently.

"I already told ya', ain't seem any of 'em in two days..." the bartender shot back.

With a frustrated sigh, Don turned towards Megan as he ran a hand through his short hair..."Hope the others are having better luck."

Megan nodded, pulling a card from her pocket, "Do yourself a favor and give us a call the next time you see any of the three men."

The bartender took the card with a smirk, then shifted his gaze to the opening front door, nodding towards the door he said, "Do ya' one better...there's the kid..."

Quickly following the bartenders gaze, Don and Megan took in the 'kid' that had just come through the door; he stopped short when he noted the stares of the bartender and the two strangers at the bar. No wasting the time to determine friend or foe, the kid took off, followed by the two agents.

The chase was short lived, as the kid took a blind alley and was soon up against a wall, "What, I ain't done nothin'...what do you want..."

"I want to know who you and your two friends are working for..." Don demanded, holding up his cell and flipping through the pictures of the other two suspects. "...and why you kidnapped a federal agent and a police officer?"

The kid's eyebrows nearly climbed off his forehead in surprise and fear, "Fed...that guy was a fed? Hey man I didn't know that..."

"But knew that the other man was a cop...he identified himself...you and your friends had no problem kidnapping him," Megan supplied.

"Man, it was supposed to be an easy job...nab the guy and keep him holed up until the buy..." the kid grumbled.

"Buy...what the hell are you talking about...buy," Don demanded angrily, whirling the cuffed kid around to face him.

"The guy that Pomeroy hooked up with...he said it was ultimate job...that his payoff would set him up for life..." the kid babbled.

"By kidnapping and what...selling, a federal agent," Don exclaimed, sharing a startled look with Megan.

"Colby has a lot of enemies that would pay a fortune to get a hold of him..." Megan commented worriedly.

"What about the other guy...the cop...why did you take him," Don asked.

The kid shrugged, "He wasn't part of the plan...just kinda came up on us...but when King saw him he seemed to recognize him and said to take him; he's the one paying, so we tossed him in the back with the other one."

The agents exchanged worried glances before hustling the kid to the SUV. Megan putt a call in to Eric to have the NCIS team meet them at the FBI.

**...ncis la...numb3rs...ncis la...numb3rs...**

Kensi and David stood around the LAPD forensics garage with palpable agitation as they waited for the CS techs to finish processing the car.

"Hey, think I found something," one of the techs said suddenly, holding up a single, silver bangle; a small piece of masking tape was folded over it with two works printed on it..."SOON LORI"

"Lori, whose Lori..." David asked, musing, "Do you think he's going after someone else?"

Kensi felt she should know what the cryptic message meant...something about the bangle and the name Lori was sending was familiar, just beyond her grasp.

"Maybe, but until we can identify who Pomeroy and Donahue are working for we have no idea who this Lori is," Kensi said.

Her cell ringing got their attention, "Hey Eric, what's up?"  
She listened for a moment before responding, "We're on our way."

"What's up," David asked.

"Don and Megan caught one of the unidentified suspects coming into the bar at Donahue's place, they're bringing him in," Kensi reported. "We're meeting them at the FBI."

**...ncis la...numb3rs...ncis la...numb3rs...**

**A/N: sorry not Deeks or Colby in this one...have to get those pesky "case" details in there, too...besides I want a little of the two teams trying to work together...I'm trying to find a way to work in a little scene between David and Sam...I want Sam to be all over David for losing faith in his partner and giving him hell for not realizing everything Colby sacrificed during his "spy" stint. I'm sure of all the character's, Sam would understand Colby's dedication the best.**


	4. Chapter 4

**KING'S RETURN**

/Chapter 4/

Colby and Deeks watched the door to their prison open slowly, both relieved to finally, perhaps, be getting answers; yet apprehensive of what was still to come from their as yet, unknown captors.

They had to squint at the back light pouring in through the open door; while the room that they were being held was not pitch dark it was very dim.

"'Bout time you introduce yourselves...I have a thing or two to say about the hospitality..." Deeks grumbled.

"Still the smart ass I see..." a voice said.

The voice registered in the back of Deeks mind...sounded familiar...he knew it from somewhere...; his internal musings were quickly answered when two men entered the room: the one that spoke moving immediately to Deeks and slapping him across the face.

"What the hell..." Colby cried out, trying to look behind him to see what was going on.

Deeks just shook his head before looking up at the man who hit him, spitting out the name like venom, "King."

"Detective...so glad you didn't forget me," King said smugly, "Because I certainly haven't forgotten you...or your partner..."

"You lay one hand on her..." Deeks threatened, fighting against his bonds.

"I have to say, you and your team weren't part of my plans; but like that proverbial 'bad penny', you just keep showing up." King said. "So, who am I to question providence, when you just fall right in my lap...I guess I get my vengeance after all."

"How in the hell did you get out," Deeks ground out angrily, "they should have locked you up and thrown away the key."

"I have as many friends in 'high' places as enemies...and in case I ever find myself needing their services again, I think I'll keep that little piece of information to myself," King answered.

Finally cutting into the conversation, Colby demanded of either man, "You know each other?"

"Yeah, had the pleasure of arresting the son of a bitch after he kidnapped my partner," Deeks shot out.

"So that your specialty...kidnapping...and, sounds like someone wants a little payback. But you said it yourself, he wasn't your target, I was; so what the hell do you want," Colby demanded, both wanting answers and to take some of the focus off the detective.

Deeks interjected curiously, eyes never leaving King as he addressed Colby, "That's just it...King's a high-end specialty thief, not a kidnapper..."

"Stealing...kidnapping, believe it or not they are not that dissimilar..." King said.

"So, you've taken to stealing 'people' now," Deeks said sarcastically. "No matter what you want to call it, it's a federal offense to steal people."

Colby just stared at King coldly, a fear slowly creeping over him as he asked a simple question, "Who?"

King smiled and went to stand over the agent, "You my friend have been very busy boy the last few years...really pissing off the wrong kind of people...did you really think that the people Lancer answered to would take his loss lightly...they apparently had a lot of time and money invested in him.

Seeing Colby visibly pale at Lancer's name caused Deeks to ask slowly, "Who's Lancer?"

"See our little FBI agent here has been a very busy boy...had his fingers in everyone's pie, so to speak," King answered, looking over at Deeks he asked, "Did you know you're in the company of an honest to goodness spy...a triple agent...and I'm being paid a king's ransom to deliver him to his former associates: I hear China is lovely this time of year."

Deeks suddenly remembered why he recognized the agent—though not directly involved—NCIS, along with all the federal agencies had been put on alert when Colby had escaped custody, "Wait, last year, the FBI agent accused of spying...that escaped custody...that was you..."

Colby's lowered his head in defeat, would he ever truly escape the nightmare of that assignment; the obvious answer, as he again fought against his bonds, was a resounding no; and what's worse is now someone else was caught up in it with him.

"You know they'll kill him if you turn him over to the Chinese," Deeks said slowly. "It's one thing to steal someone's property and sell it to the highest bidder...but you're talking about sending a man to his death."

King looked intently from one man to the other, before finally giving a shrug, "Don't worry, he won't be alone...Agent Granger won't be the only one dyeing before this is all over."

"You're right about that one King," Deeks shot back angrily.

King just gave an amused chuckle before leaving the room with the other man.

Deeks watched them go, waiting to hear the lock click and the men's footsteps to recede before turning to the Colby, who had yet to raise his head.

"Hey, man, you alright..." Deeks questioned, growing concerned with the agents defeated demeanor.

Colby never looked up as he shook his head, and Deeks knew that there was a whole lot more to the whole "spy" thing that he was not aware...something more than just being 'undercover', and it had left the young agent haunted.

"Look, we just have to keep it together...our teams will find us man," Deeks cajoled the man, "Don't give up yet."

Colby never looked up, just whispered hoarsely, "It doesn't matter...it's never gonna be over..."

**...ncis la...numb3rs...ncis la...numb3rs...**

**A/N: let's see about getting out boys "rescued"... **


	5. Chapter 5

**KING'S RETURN**

/Chapter 5/

A/N: hope I didn't screw it up...I think Lori was the name Kensi used when she went undercover as the thief that broke into Kings place..._if not-it is now, so just go with it_...anyway, another chapter or two and we'll hopefully have our boys safely (being a relative term) home.

And, DAMN, was/is it difficult to have the teams put all the clues together in a believable and TV style, scene-flowing way without just dumping all the information out there at once...TV shows just jump from scene to scene, leaving out all these little detaiIs—anyway, I've rewritten this chapter a dozen times...I give up!

**...ncis la...numb3rs...ncis la...numb3rs...ncis la...**

After dropping the evidence they had collected back at Ops, Sam and Callen came upon Don and Megan standing outside the interrogation room at the FBI.

"So, what do we know about this kid," Callen asked without preamble.

"Name's Christopher Preston...twenty-one...son of William Preston, one of the owners of a major computer firm downtown," Megan said.

"How'd this kid get mixed up in kidnapping," Sam asked.

"Apparently, Christopher felt being the owner's son he should start with the corner office, but his father wanted him to learn the business from the ground up. He was a computer major at Cal Sci until last year, got suspended for hacking the school computers...daddy cut him off, so he started selling his 'services'..." Megan reported, flipping through a file, "He has some minor offenses for hacking..."

"But from computer hacking to kidnapping..." Don questioned.

"The kidnappers knew where Granger was going to be...they have photos of him from weeks of surveillance...maybe Preston was hired to hack his email or the FBI servers to get his address or his case load," Callen surmised.

Further conversation was interrupted by Callen's phone, "yeah, Eric, what have you got?"

"That map you found at Pomeroy's place...Nell and I back traced all the routes that were marked and compared it to the traffic cams in those areas...there's a reason we lost the van," Eric reported.

"Wait, let me put on speaker," Callen said, "Okay, go Eric."

"Nell and I thought it was weird that after the van left the pier we couldn't pick it up on any traffic cam...now we know why; all the routes marked on the map...either the cameras were off-line for maintenance or they experienced a momentary glitch in recording that morning,"

The agents exchanged surprised looks, before Sam asked, "Eric, what company designed and maintains the programs for the city's traffic cams?"

After a brief pause, Eric answered, "A company downtown...Future Tech Designs..."

"Would one of the owners happen to be a William Preston," Callen asked.

"Uh, yeah, he's one of the owners," Eric answered slowly.

"So the kid was hired for his computer skills and his connection to Future Tech...and, the ability to get a vehicle through LA without being seen," Callen said.

"He would no doubt be able to easily hack into the cameras programs from his dad's company..." Don surmised.

"Someone definitely went to a lot of trouble and planning to not get caught taking your man..." Callen said, "Did the kid say who hired him?"

"All we got was the name King...no first name," Megan supplied.

"Description," Sam asked.

"None that doesn't fit half the population in LA," Don grumbled.

"Did the kid say why they took Deeks," Callen asked.

"Preston said that this King guy..." Don was suddenly interrupted by a whirling blur, known as his brother, as Charlie came barreling into their mists.

"Don, I think I've narrowed it down...and if I'm right Colby is in more danger than we originally imagined..."

The agents traded looks before following Charlie into the war room, where he was pulling out his laptop and connecting it to the board to display some of his incomprehensible equations.

"I assigned values to all of Colby's major cases and missions over the last five years...as far as length of mission, crime involved, level of sophistication of the criminal element involved...factored in the variables of the kidnapping..."

Don interrupted his brother, "We have another variable for you to add," and Don proceeded to fill Charlie in on what they had discovered about the traffic cams and the hacker in custody.

"That level of planning...the cases and missions Colby has been assigned...my calculations keep coming back to..." Charlie suddenly paused as the glass door to the war room opened to admit David and Kensi and a sad, pained expression crossed his features before he said quietly, "everything keeps pointing to...the Chinese...and Lancer."

"What," David exploded, "what are you talking about Charlie? Lancer is dead..."

"But the people he worked for are still out there..." Charlie said.

"No. No I don't buy it...why come after him now...why come after him at all," David demanded, waving his hands in frustrated anger and pacing the small room.

"David, calm down...we don't know anything for sure..." Don said, grabbing David's shoulders and gently forcing him into a seat.

Don turned to his brother, "Charlie, surely your 'equations' came up with other possibilities?"

"Yeah, but they don't come anywhere near the numbers I get for the...Chinese," Charlie answered bleakly.

"Someone want to fill us in," Callen asked blandly.

"It's classified," David barked out, not wishing to share his teams, and his friends, issues with strangers.

Callen gave his patented smirk, "I'm sure we have clearance."

With a heavy sigh and an apologetic look towards David, Don hit the hi-lights of Colby's triple agent mission and the resulting fall out.

Sam gave a whistle, "That Granger is your agent? That boy pulled off a hell of a mission."

"So the Chinese hired someone to kidnap an American triple agent..." Callen said. "That still doesn't explain Deeks, why they just didn't kill him?"

"Preston said that this King guy seemed to recognize your detective..." Don supplied.

"King," Kensi questioned.

"Yeah, the kid, Preston, said the guy who hired him and his friends—names King; he just can't give us a first name to run it," Don huffed out angrily.

Seeing the growing trepidation in his agents face, Callen questioned, "Kensi, Kens, what is it?"

"Oh, god...Callen it's all starting to make sense," Kensi suddenly gasped out as she pulled a small evidence bag from her jacket pocket. "I couldn't figure out why this was so familiar...now I do...who do we know that has ties to the Chinese, and knows Deeks,-King, Stan King..."

"King's in jail," Callen pointed out. "And he's a thief, not a kidnapper."

"Callen it all fits...King always hired outside help, never told his 'partners' any more than they needed to know for their part of the job; he has ties to the Chinese, the bracelet is the same style that Patricia Dunne wore..."

Sam, who had taken the bag and looked at the bracelet, read the two words on the tape, "Soon Lori?"

"Wait, Lori, your alias on the case; he took a big chance leaving that behind..." Callen nodded toward the evidence bag. "Why risk it?"

"That's one of Kings problems...what got him caught last time; he's overconfident; doesn't think we can find him before his meet with the Chinese," Sam said, "Looks like he couldn't resist a little payback."

"Now, someone want to fill us in," Don interjected.

"King's last job before we arrested him was stealing a jade statue with stolen micro-chips..." Kensi started to say, only to be interrupted by Callen.

"...for the ousted Chinese dignitary at the consulate."

"And Lori," David asked.

"My alias for my cover...petty thief..." Kensi supplied.

"But if King is involved, how did he get out," Sam questioned.

Callen was on the phone to Eric, as he torn back down the hall and into interrogation, "Is this the man that hired you?"

Preston looked at the photo on Callen's phone, "Yeah, looks like him."

"Where are they," Callen demanded, "Where is King holed up?"

"I don't know man. I was hired to drive and make sure we steered clear of the traffic cams," the kid said, "When we ditched the van, King said my part was over, paid me and they all took off."

"What about Pomeroy and Donahue," Callen demanded.

The kid shrugged, "Far as I know they're still with King."

**...ncis la...numb3rs...ncis la...numb3rs...ncis la...**

A/N: so the agents are piecing the clues together...now how to find out missing boys.../man, that was waayyy hard to write...hope it made sense/


	6. Chapter 6

**KING'S RETURN**

/Chapter 6/

For a long time after King left, neither man spoke; each lost in their own thoughts concerning their predicament.

Deeks was growing increasingly concerned by the silence of the other man...who seemed to fold in on himself after King's revelation.

"We're gonna get out of this," Deeks finally said.

Colby didn't acknowledge the comment.

"Look, Granger, my team caught him before, they'll do it again..." Deeks coaxed.

"It doesn't matter..." Colby interrupted bleakly.

"What, man...what doesn't matter...getting rescued; 'cause that's right up there with _'things that really matter for a thousand',_" Deeks cajoled.

Shaking his head, Colby muttered, "It'll never be over, not really...Lancer's dead...Dwayne's dead...and my team...my team still...sometimes I don't think they'll ever really trust me again...and then the Chinese; I never thought about **after** the mission...ya' know—never thought about the fact that I could be lookin' over my shoulder for the rest of my life..."

Deeks had nothing to say to the stark admission; yeah, on some level he could relate, anyone in law enforcement could-that you could get caught up with just that one criminal that would make it personal...but what do you say to a young man who has an entire government that wanted him dead?

Deeks decided to change tactics, give Colby something to focus on and hopefully redirect some of the guilt and self-doubt he knew the man was carrying to a more useful outlet, "Ya' know, one of the guys on my team used to be a SEAL...he's real big into this whole teamwork thing—big change for me I'll tell you, deep cover just didn't mesh with the whole team dynamic they had going on...an man, did _Mr. Military_ and I clash over it; but ya' know what, he, Sam, that is, he was right...a team is important...someone's got your back and you have theirs...and right now Agent Colby Granger...you're my team, and I need to know that I can count on you to back me up here."

After a moment, Colby took a slow deep breath and let it out, "Sam sounds like a smart guy..."

"Yeah, don't let him hear you say that..." Deeks scoffed with a chuckle. "He's hard enough to live with now."

Colby couldn't help but give a small smile and a shake of his head, the time for guilt and recriminations could come later, right now he had to focus on here and now: no one else was dying because of the choices he made."Yeah, I'm with you...so, tell me about King."

Deeks filled the agent in on King's high end tastes and equally high end skills...the fact that he was good enough at his job to be hired by foreign officials to break into a secure government facility, how his partner had gone in undercover; and though it still pained him to think about it, he told Colby about the explosion and the fear he felt when they lost contact with Kensi.

"And ruthless...he makes sure no one can ever tie him to a theft...he shot his last partner in cold blood right in front of Kensi...then killed three other partners in the explosion; never once batting an eye," Deeks explained as way of warning as to what King was capable of.

"Quite the charmer," Colby commented sarcastically, adding, "What I still can't figure is how, if he was caught stealing for a known Chines spy, he's out...no one slips out from under those kind of charges."

"Whoever helped him is gonna be toast when Hetty finishes with them..." Deeks commented.

"So, we need a plan," Colby said.

"A plan is good...don't suppose you got one handy do ya'" Deeks asked.

"Was kind of hoping you had one," Colby replied.

"Well there's always..." for the next several minutes the two men bandied about ideas...finally coming back to where they started...nothing.

"Yeah I got nothin'," Deeks finally said.

"Well, they gotta move us sooner or later...once we're out of this room we just have to find the first opportunity and take it," Colby said.

"So that's the plan...hurry up and wait...I gotta say, as far as plans go...not really feeling it..." Deeks said.

Colby just shrugged. "Block room, no windows, locked door, tied hands...not seeing a whole lot of options..."

"Still sucks..." Deeks grumbled.

Both men lapsed back into silence, silently willing their captors to return, to make a move...give them a chance to act against their abductors.

**...ncis la...numb3rs...ncis la...numb3rs...ncis la...**

A/N: sorry its short but I'm kinda going back and forth between the action, and this is all the farther I can get with our boys until the teams put a "rescue" plan into action...I think I've figured out where to put in the Sam/David scene too...but it will be awhile...


	7. Chapter 7

**KING'S RETURN**

/Chapter 7/

The large group of agents were standing outside the glassed interrogation room of the FBI building discussing their next move.

"So, this kid can't help us, he doesn't know where King or his buddies are keeping Deeks and Granger, or anything about when King is meeting with this supposed buyer," Kensi commented impatiently.

"What we need is Pomeroy or Donahue to lead us to King..." David said.

"Well, we have the kid's cell...might have their names in it...if their phones are on we can get a GPS fix..." Callen suggested.

"But if King has already cut Pomeroy and Donahue loose..." Don interjected.

"It either leads us to Deeks and Granger or we bring in Pomeroy and Donahue for questioning," Callen replied.

"The kid needs a reason to call either of them, Kings' already paid him and cut him loose...if King gets suspicious he'll bolt or worse just kill Deeks and Granger," Sam warned then proceeded to share with the other agents what happened to King's last business associates. "This is one cold-blooded son of a bitch."

"When all else fails, go with the truth," Callen said.

"Truth...which version would that be, G" Sam asked sarcastically.

Callen just smirked and grabbed the suspect's phone from an evidence bag, "Just be ready to start a trace."

The agent entered the interrogation room and tossed the phone across the table to the young man, "Call one of your buddies, tell them that the cops are digging around and that you need to know what to do if you get picked up."

Preston looked at the agent like he was crazy, "You want me to tell them about the cops?"

"No, you're just going to tell him that you've seen the cops snooping around and asking questions," Callen replied, adding, "See if you can get either of them to meet you somewhere."

The kid took a deep breath and shook his head, "This is crazy."

"Just do it...go a long way in helping your case...right now we've got you for two counts of kidnapping and conspiracy; and if either of those men die—you're looking at murder one: so you better be convincing..." Callen threatened.

As the young man picked up the phone, Callen nodded towards the two way window, letting Sam know to begin the trace.

Don nodded the tech operator, he proceeded to trace the outgoing call: then, they all stood outside the room and watched and waited.

"Hey, Pom, man...I think we gotta problem..." the suspect began.

**...NCIS LA...NUMB3RS...NCIS LA...NUMB3RS...NCIS LA...**

A/N: sorry it's so short but the chapters are turning out to work more into "scenes"...bouncing back and forth between our teams and our boys, kinda like the TV shows do...


	8. Chapter 8

**KING'S RETURN**

/Chapter 8/

Surprisingly, as hours tick by and the initial fear, anger and adrenalin wanes boredom and fatigue sets in and soon Colby and Deeks found themselves dozing off.

What could have been minutes, hours or days for all they could discern of the passage of time in the windowless room, the door to their prison opened?

Both men eyed King warily.

"Back so soon," Deeks snarked.

"Well, despite my wish to the contrary, I need to keep you **both **alive now...turns out I can double my money on this deal..." King said pointedly looking at Deeks, "Guess I'm not the one that gets to kill you after all...but a million dollars is a good substitute; and as I have to leave immediately after I conclude my business I'll just have to settle for your team never knowing what happened to you as my little piece of payback."

"What the hell are you driving at," Deeks spat out, "neither NCIS nor LAPD pays ransom..."

"No, but the brother of the Chinese diplomat I was hired to steal that statue for would very much like to make your acquaintance; and is willing to pay quite a bit for that honor," King informed the detective smugly. "

"What are you talking about...?" Deeks asked in confusion.

"Vengeance, detective and Lo Chin has a million more reasons than I do to want revenge...seeing as how his brother committed suicide shortly after being deported back to China," King explained. "Never like leaving a client in a lurch, bad for business; and when dealing with the Chinese spy network, it's also bad for one's health: so, I just happened to let it slip to the right people that I could give Lo Chin a little chance at payback..."

Deeks just looked at King in surprise...he could picture himself in all kinds of dangerous situations, hell, he'd **been** in all kinds of dangerous situations already in his law enforcement career—but a foreign national hating him enough to pay a million dollars for his head on a platter...he didn't know whether to be terrified or honored.

Meanwhile, Colby just hung his head in utter disbelief; of the million or more people in LA he manages to get kidnapped with it's the one guy that had ties to his kidnapper.

"Nothing to say, detective..."King prodded smugly.

Deeks was sparred coming up with a re-joiner, when another man walked into the room, "Uh, hey King...we might have a problem...just got a call from Preston...the cops are nosing around, kids getting' spooked..."

King gave Pomeroy a hard look before saying tightly, "take care of it...that kid blows this deal for me and it won't just be the kid who suffers...you got me..."

"Hey man, back off...we know how to do our job," Pomeroy said angrily. "I'm not about to lose this payday either..."

King just nodded curtly, "Lay low...meet up at the other safe house a few hours before the buy. I don't want to take a chance of anyone following you back here."

"Whatever..." Pomeroy snarked as he turned on his heel and left the room.

"Problem in paradise there, King," Deeks said cheekily. "You kidnapped a cop and an agent...you gotta know our teams our out lookin' for us..."

"They'll be too late..." King replied before turning abruptly and leaving the room.

Exchanging looks with each other, Colby said needlessly, "This is so not good."

**...NCIS LA...NUMB3RS...NCIS LA...NUMB3RS...NCIS LA...**

A/N: sorry it's another short one...but it is two posts in one day! Also, I don't know that they ever gave the name of the Chinese diplomat/spy that King was working for so I just pulled a common name out of a hat and used it...and I'm pretty sure I did indeed screw up Kensi's alias-I think it was Stacy not Lori...oh, well...no one has corrected or called me on it...so we'll just go with it.

A/N: I think I'll probably pull two, three more chapters out of this before our boys get home...'safe & sound' being optional!


	9. Chapter 9

**KING'S RETURN**

/ Chapter 9 /

"Okay, we have a fix on Pomeroy's GPS location from his cell, the FBI tech operator said, "It's on the outskirts of the city, about eighteen miles north; it's a lot of undeveloped land...mostly scattered farms."

"Good place to hide someone," Sam commented.

"So, the question now...do we hit that place and hope our guys are there or do we wait for Preston's meet with Pomeroy and follow the guy, and hope** he** leads us to Colby and Deeks," David put forth.

"We do both...there's no guarantee that Deeks and Granger are at that GPS location...I don't doubt for a minute that King will or has moved them...he's too careful to box himself in, he has to know that we're looking for our people by now, and he's not going to make the same mistakes he made last time," Callen said, adding, "So Pomeroy will be our only chance to track them if they're moved to a new location."

"And I don't know about you, but I want to catch King with his buyers...send the Chinese a message that our people aren't for sale," Sam ground out tightly.

The other agents just nodded in understanding.

The debate about who would get what assignment was, to say the least—intense: neither Kensi nor David were willing to back down from their choice, which was to hit the location on the outskirts of town.

"If there is even the remote chance that Deeks is there, that is where I need to be," Kensi said pointedly, adding with a touch of anger, as she rubbed her jaw, "Besides, I owe him for last time."

David locked eyes with his team leader and said with the same intensity, "I wasn't there for him before, Don; I need to be there for him now."

In the end it was decided that Sam would accompany David and Kensi, since his SEAL training included incursion and extraction; while Callen, Don and Megan would follow Preston to his meet with Pomeroy.

**...NCIS LA...NUMB3RS...NCIS LA...NUMB3RS...NCIS LA...**

It was not long after King and Pomeroy left the room that another man they hadn't seen before entered.

The two bound men watched the younger man warily, as he set bottled waters and prepackaged sandwiches on floor by the door.

"I'm gonna untie one of you...then he can untie the other one, don't try anything...King said he guaranteed you'd be alive at delivery...he **didn't** guarantee what kind of shape you'd be in," the young man warned, as he went to untie Colby, who was closest to him.

As the ropes fell away, Colby rubbed his wrists to try to return the circulation. The young man quickly made his way back to the door. "King said that's the last you're getting' 'til you're in custody of the Chinese...so enjoy you're last meal."

With that the door slammed and they heard the lock click into place. Colby reached down to untie his legs from the chair, taking minute to rub them to restore circulation before moving to untie Deeks.

"What no lobster and wine...even a death row inmate gets to choose his last meal," Deeks snarked.

Colby had moved to inspect the water and sandwiches, "They don't look to be tampered with...the seals are unbroken..."

"I still don't trust him..." Deeks replied.

"Hey, first rule of survival...eat and sleep when you can; keep up your energy so you're ready when an opportunity strikes..." Colby said.

"Yeah, yeah, I know the drill...doesn't mean I have to like it," Deeks groused.

They both new by how thirsty and hungry they felt that it had been hours...maybe even a day or more, since they'd been taken.

They ate and drank in silence, tossing the trash in a corner and walking around the small, block, windowless room.

"A whole lot of nothing," Deeks grumbled, sliding down the wall. "Damn, you wouldn't think sittin' around for hours on end would make ya' feel so tired."

Colby watched as Deeks plopped down on the floor and put his head in his hands, "You alright?"

"Yeah, must have been sitting to long...just feel a little dizzy,"

"You need to get up and move around, get the blood flowin',"  
Colby suggested, adding suspiciously, "King has to have something else planned, this guy seems too meticulous and careful to just suddenly leave us both untied."

"Yeah, is a little weird, he's kept us tied up in a locked room and now he lets us loose..." Deeks said absently, using the wall to help push himself to his feet.

The detective hadn't taken two steps before he stumbled forward, Colby barely able to catch him and follow him down, "Deeks, what is it...what's wrong?"

"Di...zz...y," Deeks said breathlessly, before is eyes rolled up in his head.

"Deeks!" Colby exclaimed, lowering the detective to the ground and feeling for a pulse.

The pulse was steady and strong, the detective just appeared to be unconscious...'drugged; but how, the food did not show any evidence of tampering,' Colby wondered.

Colby went to examine the trash, the plastic sandwich containers seemed to show no signs of being altered; but upon closer inspection of the water bottles, Colby found a small puncture underneath the label of Deeks bottle but not on the one he himself had drank from, confusing him as to King's motives—he couldn't have known who was going to drink from which bottle...so obviously King didn't care which man drank from the drugged bottle.

He went back and sat down next to Deeks, again feeling for a pulse. 'What was King up too,' Colby wondered, not for the first time.

Turned out Colby didn't have long to wait for his answers, as a short time later the door again opened and King and the one who had brought them the food entered the room.

"Oh, so the detective wins the prize," King said off-handedly.

"What in the hell was in that water bottle..." Colby demanded.

"Ah, so you discovered my little trick," King said, "it was just a mild sedative...will make things easier..."

"Make what easier," Colby interrupted angrily.

"It's time to move...no doubt, by now, NCIS and the FBI are attempting to find you...can't let that happen..." King answered. "Two healthy agents could become difficult to handle, but one agent...not so much, if he has to look after his buddy. I know that self-sacrificing code you all share... you wouldn't dare leave the detective behind, just like I know he wouldn't have left you behind..."

Colby just scowled angrily at King.

"Remove the detective's wallet and shield from his pockets, then you do the same Agent Granger," King instructed.

"Why," Colby demanded.

"I have no doubt your agencies will find this place eventually. I want them to know that they were too late," King said arrogantly.

It was on the tip of his tongue to refuse the request, but the gun the other man had pointed at the defenseless detective told Colby in no uncertain terms that the request was not optional.

Soon Colby was holding both his and Deeks shield cases.

"Just lay them on the chairs," King said mildly, taking the gun from the other man, "Now, Donahue here is going to help you get Mr. Deeks up the stairs and out to the car; and I assume the reminder not to try anything stupid is redundant."

Colby just nodded slowly, before he and Donahue hoisted Deeks off the floor and supported the unconscious man between them.

It was late evening by the looks of the sky, and Colby had to wonder was it still the same day...had it really only been that morning that he and Deeks had been surfing; because it felt like years that they had been trapped in that windowless room.

In minutes they were situated in the car and driving away from the old farmhouse.

**..NCIS LA...NUMB3RS...NCIS LA...NUMB3RS...NCIS LA...**

A/N: yeah, another short one...but I thought I'd get something out there...and for anyone who's disappointed that our 'boys' didn't get a chance to try to escape...King isn't stupid...he knows full well the training Colby and Deeks have and wouldn't take the chance of letting them get the upper hand...

Anyway, this should be wrapped up in a chapter or two then I can concentrate on finishing up some of the other ones out there...


	10. Chapter 10

**KING'S RETURN**

/Chapter 10/

A/N: Sorry for the delay in story posts (for any of them) but I've been dealing with report cards, difficult parents and the end-of- year standardize test prep & testing. But Soon...very, very soon (May 25) I'll be free of the little demons...and they can crawl back into the pits of hell they came from!

A/N: Also, after that Hawaii 5-0 XO I wanted to watch a few eps of that show to get feel for the characters and NOW have "another" TV obsession...love "Danno" (and I'm old enough to remember the original 5-0 & liked Danno in that on too!)

A/N: don't know if anyone will think David is a little OOC...I just know I didn't like how he treated Colby after the whole spy fiasco...yeah, it stings to be lied to but he was undercover...I really think David should have been written more supportive and understanding.

**...NCIS LA...NUMB3RS...NCIS LA...NUMB3RS...NCIS LA...**

Standing in OPS, the agents watched the large screen as Eric pulled up an area at the marina.

"Okay, Eric will coordinate from here..." Callen said.

"I can tie into multiple cameras to have eyes on the meet between Preston and Pomeroy...but the location of the GPS signal from Pomeroy's phone is to far outside city limits...no traffic cams anywhere," Eric reported.

"Preston's meet with Pomeroy is in little over an hour..." Don said, looking at his watch.

Sam nodded, "We can get to the GPS location by then...see if our men are there...if they are you move in and take down Pomeroy and Preston, if not we follow Pomeroy and hope he lead us back to King."

"There's an awful lot of 'ifs' to this whole operation," David said tightly.

"I know man, we're going in almost blind, but it's all we got," Sam commiserated.

"Sam's team needs to gear up and get moving...Callen, you and Agents Epps and Reeves need to prep Mr. Preston for his meet," Hetty said.

The agents all exchanged last looks with each other before heading out to their assignments.

**...NCIS LA...NUMB3RS...NCIS LA...NUMB3RS...NCIS LA...**

The drive to the GPS coordinates was being made in tense silence.

David sighed heavily and ran his hands down his face.

"Don't worry, we'll get them back," Sam commented.

"Yeah, yeah, I know we will," David commented without enthusiasm, giving another heavy sigh and looking out the window and muttering quietly, "At what cost this time...damn it."

Sam exchanged a confused look with Kensi in the rear view mirror before asking, "What's that supposed to mean?"

"What? Nothing man, just...nothing..." David said.

"Something's got you worked up..." Sam pushed.

Echoing his partners earlier thoughts David finally said, "It was hard, man...finding out about the whole 'triple agent spy' deal...letting us think he was a traitor, not trusting us—his team...all those years he lied to us. Now it's coming back again...and now he's caught someone else up in his mess..."

"You're blaming your man for this," Sam asked in surprise.

"And you don't..." David blurted out without thinking, then shook his head, "look, he didn't come clean with us, with me and they almost killed him because of it; hell technically they **did**—his heart stopped, we almost didn't get him back...they could **both** be dead already," David said.

"Don't talk that way...they're not dead...until we see bodies we're not gonna believe anything else," Kensi shot out.

David just nodded and looked out the window again.

"You gotta let it go man," Sam said quietly. "Holding on to that kind of anger_...he's your partner..."_

"He lied to me...for almost two years...he **was** my best friend. I don't know if I can do this again," David said tightly.

"Did he ever, in all the time he was your partner, did he ever give you reason to believe he didn't have your back..." Sam asked. "Did he ever not give a hundred and ten percent to his job as an FBI agent...to your team...and as your partner...?"

After a moment of consideration David shook his head.

"Don't confuse the **man**with the_** mission**_," Sam said pointedly. "He's exactly who you think he is...I guarantee he never lied about his friendship."

David now turned to Sam, his anger tempered with curiosity, "And where exactly is this coming from...what would you know about it, you've never even met Granger."

"You're man is ex-military, special ops...I know where he's coming from; I've had my share of deep ops in the SEALS...even NCIS ops have left my team at odds with one and other," Sam said, again catching Kensi's eyes in the rear view mirror, "but at the end of the day we know who has our back."

"You're saying if you're partner looked in the eye and lied to you, it's okay because the end justifies the means..." David asked with mild sarcasm.

"It sucks, but sometimes it's necessary to complete the op," Kensi said with a tone that indicated a story behind the tone. "But at the end of the day...you remember what makes them a good partner...a good friend."

David turned to the back to look at Kensi, who met and held his searching gaze, "Deeks, he lied to you—left you out of the loop for the sake of an op?"

"Deeks, Sam, Callen; and all on Hetty's orders..." Kensi said evenly, "but it wasn't about friendship or lack of trust...it was about doing our job...*****"

Understanding passed between them, before David turned around in his seat, "I can't lose him to this...not again..."

Kensi reached forward and gave David's shoulder a squeeze, "They're our partners...we **will** get them back."

The rest of the ride was made in silence, and ten minutes later Sam pulled the SUV to a stop fifty yards or so from an old farmhouse and barn.

Scooting forward in her seat, Kensi asked, "So how are we gonna do this?"

Sam surveyed the area with a critical eye for several moments before saying, "We'll go around the and through the barn, then approach the house from the rear...we need to get eyes on the inside from as many outside angles as we can..."

"I don't like it...not a lot of cover..." Kensi said, as she looked over the area.

"Not much choice..." Sam sighed.

The barn proved to hold no clues, and the agents were at the door of the barn looking towards the house when Kensi commented, "Sam, I don't see any cars around..."

Sam nodded, knowing that they were most likely to late, but not willing to voice the thought without proof, "we're not taking any chances...treat the area as hostile until proven otherwise."

David and Kensi nodded.

The three agents made their way towards the back of the house, Sam moving up to the back porch door while David and Kensi each went to opposite sides of the house to peer into the windows.

Moments later each agent reported, "Clear."

"Okay, you two take the front; I'll take the back..." Sam instructed.

On three the agents burst into the farmhouse and made quick work of searching the main floor; and again the all clear sounded from each agent's location.

Kensi stayed on the main floor while Sam and David made a sweep of the second floor.

"Just leaves the basement," David commented.

They approached the basement with the same caution as the rest of the search, thought they all were certain the house was empty.

Sam slammed open the large steel door the Kensi and David followed the ex-SEAL into the small, windowless room. The first thing they noted were two chairs, some garbage in a corner. The second thing they noted were the wallets sitting on each chair.

In tandem, David and Kensi went to the chairs and gingerly picked up the wallets, and holding them open to reveal the badge and ID of each of the missing men.

"They were here..." Kensi said.

"Bastards taunting us...knew we'd find this place eventually," Sam grumbled angrily, pulling out his cell to call his partner.

"G they're not here...but King left us a calling card...we're going to head back your way...whatever you do don't lose Pomeroy—he's out only link to our missing men."

Clutching their partners ID wallets like a lifeline they grimly followed Sam out of the house.

...NCIS LA...NUMB3RS...NCIS LA...NUMB3RS...NCIS LA...

*****Refers to the NCIS LA episode, "The Debt", in which the team leads Kensi to believe Deeks shot an unarmed man to sell his cover...and she was "really" pissed when she found out!

Never planned on having Kensi in that scene, but it just seemed to sort of write itself...Deeks "betrayal" isn't quite on the same level as Colby's but lying is lying...


	11. Chapter 11

**KING'S RETURN**

/Chapter 11/

A/N: Hopefully I can have this tied up in one more chapter, to make it a nice even 12, then I'll work really hard to finish up the others...now that my summer break is nearly here!

A/N: also, sorry for all the grammar mistakes in the last chapter...I was watching the season finale of "Supernatural" with my daughter the same time I was typing up the last chapter...all the finales (of the shows I watch) were really predictable and lame except Supernatural...it ended with an amusing twist.

**...NCIS LA...NUMB3RS...NCIS LA...NUMB3RS...NCIS LA...**

Don and Megan eyed Callen anxiously as he spoke to his partner on the cell; ending the call Callen looked at their expectant faces and shook his head grimly.

"They missed them..." Callen reported.

"But they were there?" Don pressed.

Callen nodded a replied tightly, "King left their badges behind for us to find..."

"We've still got Pomeroy," Megan said.

"Providing King hasn't already cut him and Donahue loose," Callen said with a heavy sigh.

"Hey...come on now, we got to hold it together; King is gonna need help to keep two trained agents under control and move them...he has to still be using them as muscle...right..." Don inveigled.

"Yeah, I just hope this buy goes down soon...the thought of our guys being at King's tender mercies any longer than they have to be..." Callen trailed off, unable to finish the thought.

Megan placed a comforting hand on Callen's shoulder, "They know we're looking for them...they'll hang on..."

Callen met Megan's gaze and slowly nodded.

"Now, let's get Preston ready for his meet," Don said.

**...NCIS LA...NUMB3RS...NCIS LA...NUMB3RS...NCIS LA...**

The three agents were spread out around the small park next to the marina, to cover as many exit routes as possible, while Preston paced around a picnic table.

"Cool it," Callen snapped at Preston over the earwig. "You need to pull it together...find out where King is holding Deeks and Granger."

"Yeah, 'cause Marco is such a sharing and caring kinda guy," Preston snarked.

"You better hope your friend gives you something..." Don said letting the threat hang.

"He ain't my friend, okay...we did a job together, that's it," Preston snapped back.

Further conversation was forestalled as they spotted Marco Pomeroy making his way towards Preston.

Without preamble the man snapped out angrily, "What the hell is your problem, kid...you better not be thinking of rabbiting on me 'n King."

"Hey, Marco man, hold up," the kid cajoled, holding his hands up defensively. "Just the opposite man...don't want to blow it for you...you get caught, it's just a matter of time before they trace to me, man...but ya' needed to know, man, that it wasn't just cops, man, it was the Feds that were snoopin' around your place and Donahue's."

Pomeroy gave a heavy sigh, running his hands through his hair, "They get anything?"

"Jimmy played dumb...but they gave him a card and told him to call if he spotted any of us coming into 'Tootsie's'," Preston replied, adding, "Jimmy said they searched Donahue's place though; don't know about your place."

Another angry sigh, "Damn, how the hell did they even know where to look? You disabled the traffic cams, right...how in the hell did they know it was me 'n Donahue?"

Preston backed away from the angry man, "Hey man, I did my job, those cams were definitely disabled...maybe they found the van or something..."

Pomeroy just stood quiet for a moment, staring off into nothing, thinking.

"So, uh, you gonna be able to avoid the Feds long enough for the deal to go down?" Preston asked.

"It'll be over in less than a day, now, so we just gotta keep the 'merchandise' on ice 'til then," Pomeroy answered absently.

In the distance, three agents let out a sigh of relief...Pomeroy's statement, at least, confirming their men were still alive.

"A day, huh...so you're about to cash in...should charge King extra for the grief he's causin' me...I was supposed to get him through the traffic cams and be done with it, not ducking fucking Feds..." Preston ranted angrily.

"You're a fucking idiot; you know that...you're lucky King didn't send me here to put a bullet in your brain..." Pomeroy growled out menacingly, putting two fingers to the side of the kid's head like he was shooting.

Preston angrily shoved Pomeroy's hand away from his head, "Hey, man, I ain't gonna push my luck with the psychopath...the freak kidnapped a Fed and a cop like it was a simple 'smash 'n grab'..."

"So, you square...Feds ain't come knocking on your door yet, right?" Pomeroy asked suspiciously.

"No man, just tellin' you what Jimmy told me..." the younger man answered. "So, you're lying low with King 'til the buy?"

Pomeroy eyed the younger man with growing suspicion, then looked around the crowds milling around the marina park, "What's with the twenty questions, kid?"

"Nothing, man, just asking if you trust King not to take his payday and run...he don't strike me as a real trusting ...or sane type o' guy..." Preston said with a shrug.

Pomeroy nodded, "That's for sure...sane he ain't, he's one intense mother...reminds me of them nature shows about them poisonous snakes, the big ol' cobras, ya' know...just laying there, hidin', waitin' to strike and kill ya'..."

Preston snorted in agreement, "Yeah that describes him...so you get to spend another day with the nut job?"

"Nah, that's on poor Donahue...I ain't meetin' back up with them until a few hours before it all goes down..." Pomeroy answered with a shrug.

"Thought you didn't trust him..." Preston pressed.

"I don't, but I do trust Donahue to call if the deal goes south, and I know where the safe house is they're holed up in now...and I know that pansy assed King can't handle them two cops on his own," Pomeroy said, "If he does try to screw our deal it won't be 'til after we make the deal."

"Good luck with that, and keep me in mind if anymore 'work' comes your way...only next time, try to hook up with someone not quite as insane," Preston said.

"Stay low kid...and don't call again..." Pomeroy said before turning and walking back towards the parking lot.

Preston climbed up and sat on the picnic table, propping his arms on his knees and dropping his head into his hands, "Hope to hell you got what you needed, 'cause I ain't doing that again; I don't have a death wish."

Don and Megan stopped in front of the man, "We got what we needed."

The kid looked at the two agents, "Really, thought this whole thing was so you could follow Marco; you're standin' here staring at me?"

The two agents looked over the hacker's shoulder, causing the young man to turn and spot the third agent...Callen, he remembered, jogging up to the group.

"Trackers in place, Eric has eyes on Pomeroy right now," Callen reported, turning to Preston he demanded, "And you have no idea where the new safe house is?"

"Hey, man, I already told you...I didn't even know where the last one was...I was paid for the traffic cams, and that's it," the man snapped back.

"Need to get this one back to lock up...and get eyes on Pomeroy," Callen stated, nodding towards Preston. "Eric also has a lock on Pomeroy's cell GPS, in case he calls King."

"So, now we wait," Don said.

Pulling Preston off the table, Megan turned the guy around and snapped the cuffs on him, "I'll take this one back...wait on the others."

"Yeah, thanks Megan..." Don said.

The two lead agents escorted Megan and the prisoner to the SUV before heading to their vehicle.

"Where is he Eric?" Callen asked.

"He's heading up Jackson boulevard...looks like he might be heading towards that bar..." Eric reported.

"Damn, if Pomeroy finds out that we took the kid in...he's bound to tell King..." Callen said in frustration.

"We just have to make sure Pomeroy doesn't want to go near the bar," Don said thoughtfully, pulling out his cell.

"You got a plan?" Callen questioned, eyebrows raised.

Don held up a staying finger, "Hey, Walker...Epps, I need a favor."

Callen listened while the agent laid out what he needed to the person on the other end of the line, hanging up after only a couple of minutes.

"Got it covered..." Don said with a grim smile. "Our boy isn't gonna want to go anywhere near the bar..."

"Really?" Callen questioned.

Don just smiled, "NCIS isn't the only agency to have an LAPD liaison..."

Pulling up to the bar twenty minutes later, they saw several squad cars, lights flashing and numerous officers escorting cuffed bar patrons to waiting squad cars.

"What the hell is all this," Callen demanded.

Don just waved the agent off, eyes scanning the crowd, "You got eyes on Pomeroy?"

Callen redirected his angry scowl towards the crowds and soon pointed off down the street about half a block, "Yeah, there he is. Now, you gonna tell me what's going on?"

"Cops, just got a tip of drug and gang activity at the bar...take them awhile to sort it all out...Pomeroy isn't gonna want to get anywhere near this mess..." Don said.

"You organized a raid...in less than twenty minutes," Callen exclaimed.

Don turned to the agent and shrugged, "You have your liaison, I have mine; Sgt. Walker, LAPD drugs and gang task force..."

"And he just threw together a raid in twenty minutes on your phone call?"

Now grim faced, Don answered, "Gary has worked with us on several cases...hell, he's tackled the Russian mob...he knows Colby...a little local raid was nothing for him..."

Callen nodded, "Good man to have on speed-dial."

They watched the scene play out...watched as Pomeroy sidled up to the watching crowd to try to find out what was going on, then got back into his car and quickly drove off.

**...NCIS LA...NUMB3RS...NCIS LA...NUMB3RS...NCIS LA...**

Deeks woke slowly, his vision slow to focus...he searched his memory, trying to piece together why he felt so lethargic and out of sorts.

Through slit eyes, he noted he was lying flat, on a hard surface...the place he found himself was cool and dimly lit from light streaming in through holes along the top of the room. His eyes continued to scan over the area...soon, coming to rest on another figure sitting about ten feet away, head down, resting on their knees.

"Hey," he called out huskily, voice dry and cracking.

The head shot up, and the man quickly half crawled, half scooted over to him, "Hey yourself, how ya' feeling?"

"Been better...what's going on?" Deeks asked.

"King moved us...closer to the meet point I'm guessing..." Colby supplied.

Trying to sit up, Colby quickly lending a hand to prop the detective up so he was leaning against the wall, Deeks looked around their new accommodations, "Where are we?"

"Locked in a shipping container," Colby answered.

"Oh, that's original," Deeks grumbled.

"Chinese like to do most of their business at the docks, or better yet out in international waters..." Colby explained, and Deeks didn't miss the shudder that went through the other man.

"You okay, man?" Deeks asked in concern.

"Yeah..."

Quirking on eye, Deeks questioned, "Now, why don't I believe that?"

Colby just answered with a shrug.

"So how long we been here?"

"An hour or so, I'm guessing,"

"You think this is going down soon," Deeks said knowingly.

Again, Colby's only answer was a shrug and a nod.

The two men exchanged grim looks, both wondering if their teams would find them in time...

**...NCIS LA...NUMB3RS...NCIS LA...NUMB3RS...NCIS LA...**

A/N; yeah, one more chapter and our boys will be 'rescued'...I'm trying to decide how much "whumping" will be in the final chapter to get out boys home...


	12. Chapter 12

**KING'S RETURN**

/Chapter 12/

A/N: Yeah, our boys get rescued at last (well, almost)...this story decided to take on a life of its own...I really thought I'd have it cranked out faster than this...and it's longer than I intended.

A/N: I also realized I was remiss is some details about the abduction that the NCIS team would surely have questioned closer, so I managed to work in it in...lucky for me, Sam is an ex-SEAL and Callen is just insanely distrustful and paranoid—made it easier to work in the conversation. (Remember our boys know about King's deals (plural) with the Chinese...our rescuers still have to figure that out...)

A/N: I'm going to apologize to my regular reader's now...it might not have quite the level of whumpage you were hoping for...I'm more for the emotional kind rather than physical (as it is sooo overdone) AND I'm really into showing the emotions and teamwork involved in solving a case! I know exactly how I want the rescue scenes to play out, I'm just havin' a hell of a time getting it down right...because of that the rescue is gonna be broken into two parts...and an epilogue...

**...NCIS LA...NUMB3RS...NCIS LA...NUMB3RS...NCIS LA...**

Not knowing the status of their missing men was starting to take a toll; the thought of Deeks and Granger being with King for any amount of time left them frustrated and edgy with the endless waiting and inactivity. They wanted their men back...and they wanted them back now!

Pomeroy wasn't doing a whole lot to take the edge off the agents forced inactivity...he found another bar to spend most of his afternoon and early evening; he then went back to his own place to apparently wait out the time until the meet.

His only action of any significance the entire day had been a short call to Donahue to verify things were still on track. The thirty second call was nowhere near the time Eric needed for a trace, and Donahue had turned off his cell afterwards, making a GPS trace impossible.

"God, I can't take much more of this waiting," Kensi grumbled. "Were sitting her watching this putz do nothing and Deeks and Colby could be...anything could be happening to them,"

Sam tried to ease his friends minds, "Look, to King, Deeks and Granger are merchandise...he's not gonna risk his payday by killing them."

Callen just nodded grimly, "Doesn't make this waiting any easier..."

"It can't be that much longer...Pomeroy told Preston it would be over in a day..." Sam said. "We'll get our guys back, nail King...and this time he's not crawling out from underneath the charges; and let the Chinese know they're messing with the one people..."

The agents maintained their surveillance throughout the night, taking turns dozing fitfully, waiting for Pomeroy to make his move.

It was well after midnight and Sam noted Callen was scowling and rubbing a hand over his chin as though in thought, "You wanna share, G?"

"What?" Callen started in surprise.

"What's on your mind...?" Sam prodded his partner.

"Something Pomeroy said earlier, haven't quite put my finger on..." Callen began, shifting in the passenger seat to give a quick look at a dozing Kensi before facing his partner. "We know why King abducted Granger...for the money; and we know King has it out for our team for his arrest...but why hang onto Deeks; if it was about revenge why not kill him: Pomeroy clearing indicated that the 'merchandise' was on ice until the buy with the Chinese...and that King couldn't handle two cops on his own..."

"So what are you thinking...that King has a 'buyer' for Deeks too?" Sam asked in surprise. "But who...Deeks is an LA detective, not a spy...never in the military...never even been out of LA."

"But the theft we nailed King for **was** for a Chinese_ diplomat_..." Callen reminded his partner needlessly, "King's already got the Chinese spy network on the hook for Granger; what if Chin Lo or someone else from the embassy is looking for payback?"

Sam just shook his head and sighed, "That's out there G, why Deeks, Kensi is the one who played him...maybe King's just waiting for his deal with the Chinese, for Granger, is completed before killing Deeks..."

"I think it was all one fucked up coincidence that Deeks landed in King's lap...the kid said King was surprised when he saw Deeks...I think King saw an opportunity and took it; and who's to say he didn't intend to come after the rest of us after his deal for Granger," Callen countered, continuing adamantly, "I don't think King will stick around now, after his business with the Chinese is complete...he knows, regardless of who got him out, that NCIS and the Feds are gonna come after him with everything we've got so it only stands to reason he'd want to high-tail it out of the country as soon as possible."

When Sam didn't answer, Callen pushed, "It's a least worth a look," then pressing his com, "Hey Eric, see what you can dig up on Chin Lo, the diplomat that hired King for his last job."

"Will do...something up?" the tech asked.

"Just a theory, let me know what you find," Callen replied.

It was few hours later that Eric finally got back to them.

"Callen, Chin Lo is dead...from what I could find he died shortly after returning to China..." Eric informed the agent.

"Do the reports say how?" Callen asked.

"No, I can't really find an official cause of death," Eric replied.

"Thanks Eric..." Sam said, looking towards Callen.

"That wasn't helpful," Callen muttered.

"The shame Chin Lo would have brought to his family...no cause of death listed..." Sam mused, "Could mean on of two things..."

"Either his own people took him out...or..." Callen supplied.

"He might have committed suicide to spare his family the shame of his failure..." Sam finished.

"So maybe it's not Chin Lo himself...maybe someone is his family wants payback," Callen said with a small nod.

"If that's true then King is trying to cut two deals, with two different parties..." Sam put forth grimly.

**...NCIS LA...NUMB3RS...NCIS LA...NUMB3RS...NCIS LA...**

Shipping containers stood stark and silent as twilight was beginning to break over the bay and port area, it was still too early for the dock workers to begin the day loading and unloading the thousands of containers, but none-the-less there was movement amongst the containers.

"Its four fucking o'clock in the morning, why are we doin' this now," a grumpy voice complained, "The buy isn't for hours yet."

"You're not paid to ask stupid questions, just follow orders," anther voice snapped back.

Grumbling the voice continued to mutter, "Still don't see why I can't wait for Marco to help me lug their sorry asses..."

"Shut up and set up and run the tubing through the hole..."

The voices roused Colby from his restless dozing, he looked over to Deeks to find the detective sleeping fitfully, before standing and trying to discern from which side of the container the voices; that were clearly that of King and Donahue, were coming.

He heard a thumping noise in the rear corner of the container and went to check it out, a moment later he saw a clear tube snaking into one of the holes near the top; stopping six to eight inches in, then an ominous hissing noise sounded seconds later.

"Damn it," Colby cursed loudly, realizing after a moment that King was filling the container with some kind of gas. He looked at the tubing helplessly, he had no way of reaching the top of the container.

His loud shout startled Deeks awake, and the detective shot to his feet, "What..."

Putting his face in his elbow, Colby just pointed to the tubing...it took a moment for Deeks to grasp its meaning, adding a curse of his own before he succumbed to the gas and dropped boneless to the floor. Colby took two steps toward the downed man before he too succumbed to darkness.

Outside the container, King's head was quirked, listening; the sounds of two heavy thuds from the inside brought a sadistic smile to his face as he turned to Donahue, "That's enough, turn it off."

Donahue cut the gas and stood up, "What now?"

"Give it about thirty, then open the container and pull him out...get him on the boat," King ordered.

**...NCIS LA...NUMB3RS...NCIS LA...NUMB3RS...NCIS LA...**

"Guys, we've got movement," Don reported over the coms, early the next morning.

"About time," Kensi groused.

The agents watched from their positions at either end of the street as Pomeroy strolled from his house and climbed into his car. They saw him put his cell to his ear.

"Eric, we got Pomeroy making a call..." Callen said.

"On it," Eric's voice replied.

Another thirty seconds and the call ended and Eric informed the agents, "It was another call to Donahue..."

"Still no location," Sam asked.

"Nell is triangulating now but the closest we can get is a six block radius at the shipping docks...sorry guys," Eric reported.

"That makes sense...if the Chinese are involved...they want a quick departure point...last time they..." David's comment trailed off.

"Last time, what?" Callen asked, exchanging a look with Sam.

A heavy sigh came over the com-link from Don before he answered, "Chinese don't like to conduct business on the mainland...they prefer the safety of international waters where we don't have jurisdiction..."

"Maybe you don't, but we do..." Callen commented. "They **won't** get away with either of our men."

**...NCIS LA...NUMB3RS...NCIS LA...NUMB3RS...NCIS LA...**

The agents followed Pomeroy at a distance...counting on Eric and his mastery of the traffic cams to keep eyes on their suspect if they lost him in the early morning, LA rush hour.

The two SUV's rolled slowly to a stop at the end of a port side street, hidden behind shipping containers, watching as Pomeroy drove to the other end and stopped, getting out and meeting up with another man.

"Donahue," Callen commented as they watched the two men conversing at the other end of the pier. "Don't see King anywhere."

"Eric, you got a good visual on our two suspects," Sam asked.

Back in OPS, Eric had the port cams showing Pomeroy and  
Donahue up on the big screen, "Got them...no sign of either of our guys or King though..."

"Keep us posted..." Callen said.

The agents from both teams watched tensely, waiting impatiently for any sign of King and the Chinese...**any **sign of their missing men...

_/gee, this would have been a real good place for a cliffie...but I just wanna get this story done and posted so consider this a brief commercial break before the "rescue" action that always happens in the last ten minutes of any show/_

**...NCIS LA...NUMB3RS...NCIS LA...NUMBERS...NCIS**

At the SUV's, six agents watched the two suspects, noting Donahue pointing off towards one of the containers over Pomeroy's shoulder.

"You think that's where Kings' keeping them," David asked impatiently.

"Good chance...but where's King...I don't like this. If the deal's about to go down he should be here," Sam said.

"Eric, you have eyes on King...where is he," Callen asked the tech who was monitoring back at OPS.

"I'm scrolling through all the cams in a four block radius of your position Callen, so far nothing...wait...Callen, I have a black Mercedes approaching from the north...you should have a visual in thirty," Eric reported.

"There," Kensi pointed, and all the agents turned their attentions to the car pulling up to the two suspects.

"That's him," Kensi spat out, as King exited the car and walked over to the two men.

"All we need to round out this party are his buyers and we can finally end this," Sam said.

"Let's move in..." Callen directed, as all the agents checked their guns and vests and silently exited their vehicles to move in on King.

"Eric, we're in position...you got eyes on the buyers yet," Sam asked.

"Two cars approaching from the east side..." Eric supplied.

In less than a minute two cars pulled up near King's Mercedes and several men climbed from the cars...

"Move on my signal..." Sam cautioned the teams, "We want this airtight when we take them in."

From their various positions hidden amongst the containers the agents waited for money to exchange hands...for King to produce his 'merchandise' to his buyers.

They watched as King shook hands with one of the men and moved off to a nearby red container; watched him wave Pomeroy and Donahue over to open the container. Three of the Chinese men then moved to look inside the open container, one giving a satisfied nod before the container was quickly shut back up.

"We have conformation on our missing men...as soon as the money is exchanged, move in and let's take these bastards down," Sam told the waiting agents.

As King moved back to his car, one of the Chinese men waved one of his lackey's towards their car then pointed to another lackey and to the container. Lackey number two immediately whipped out his phone and seconds later, to the agent's dismay, the container was suddenly being lifted off the ground by a nearby dock crane.

"Move...move...move..." Sam commanded and the agents poured from their cover to converge on the suspects...one agent breaking off from the firefight and heading in the opposite direction.

Shouts of "FBI", "NCIS" and "Federal Agent" filled the air, startling the suspects into action...the firefight was short lived, and most of the Chinese were soon on the ground.

However, King and his two lackeys managed to duck to cover when the firefight started.

"It's over King, give it up," Kensi shouted from her position.

"Why, Lori...is that you...don't think so sweet cheeks, I owe you and you team a lot...my revenge is nearly complete," he scoffed arrogantly.

"You got nowhere to go King...this will only end one of two ways...you can leave in cuffs or a body bag—your choice," David shouted.

"You willing to bet your man's life on that agent..." King shouted back.

Don and David exchanged looks before Don demanded, "What the hell is that supposed to mean?"

"Your man is still mine...whether you arrest me or put a bullet in me, if your man dies, I still win," King's response was smug. "What's the chance of survival if that container drops?"

The agents looked up at the suspended container that had stopped moving at the onset of the firefight.

"Yours will be zero," Callen promised.

"All you have to let me do is walk to my car, take my money and go...you caught the guys that wanted your man...I walk away and the container hits the ground in one piece," King said.

Tense moments passed as multiple scenarios raced through each agents head as they tried to find leverage to use against King.

"Clocks ticking..." King shot out.

Before anyone could offer up a deal, the container was suddenly being lowered to the ground; to the surprise of all parties involved.

Their silent question was answered seconds later when Megan came over the coms, "Take King, I got the crane operator."

Callen and the FBI agents engaged King and his men in another round of gun fire while Kensi and Sam moved around to box the suspects in.

In a momentary lull of gunfire, two loud ominous clicks caused the three suspects to turn, coming face to face with two very pissed agents, guns cocked, "Just give me a reason, King."

Pomeroy and Donahue quickly gave up, but King just shook his head, a smug smile creasing his features, "Ah, 'Lori'..."

"That's Agent Blye to you..." Kensi snapped, "It's over King."

King cocked his head, as the container scraped the ground, the smug look never leaving his face, "Is it, we'll see..."

"Clear, G...we got 'em," Sam called out to the other agents who were cautiously converging on the container.

Kensi and Sam quickly zip cuffed the three men, leading them to the container.

Callen and Don make quick work of opening the doors to the container, peering into the gloom...

"Man down," David yelled as he rushed into the gloomy container to check the man who was lying with his back to them, "It's Colby, he's alive..."

David, along with the rest of the agents quickly scanned the container.

While Don moved to join David as he attempted to assess his partner, the NCIS team converged on King; Kensi grabbing the man by his collar, forcefully slamming him against another container.

"Where is he? What have you done with Deeks?" she demanded angrily.

Sam, meanwhile, turned and quickly made his way inside the container. Colby was slowly rousing to the ministrations of his team...

"Come on Colb, wake up man...help us out here, where's Deeks," David asked urgently, gently tapping at his partners cheeks, "The man that was with you...where did King take him?"

Colby was fighting his way towards consciousness, the pleading voices filling his addled mind with a sense of urgency he couldn't quite put his finger on...suddenly, another voice, deep and commanding broke through the haze, kicking in his automatic response from years of military training.

"Lt. Granger, we got a man missing, repeat, we have a man down...report; do you know his location?" Sam barked out the command.

Colby's eyes flew open, and though they didn't immediately focus, his training kicked in and he replied to the command automatically, "...over...overheard, King...yacht...slip 46..."

His energy spent, Colby drifted back off. Sam smiled tightly, giving the downed man's shoulder a squeeze, "Good work soldier, good work..."

Sam shot out of the container, and without slowing his pace, shouted to his team, as he made his way towards the nearest vehicle, "Slip 46...Deeks is on a yacht...Eric, get eyes on the marina north of our location, we need everything you've got on the mooring at slip 46...and we need it yesterday..."

Kensi turned to King, he was looking decidedly less smug, "If my partner dies...I **will** kill you..."

She then hauled back with everything she had and downed her partner's abductor with a swift fist to the face.

David had followed Sam out of the container, spying Megan making her way towards the group with her prisoner, he said quickly, "Megan help Don, I'm going with them..."

Without stopping to get acknowledgment of he ran to catch up with the NCIS team, barely sliding into the back seat before the car took off.

"Why aren't you with your partner," Kensi asked.

"This isn't over...you helped us get Colby back...but your man is still out there..." David responded, "And it's what Colby would want..."

Sam just nodded his understanding to the agent.

"Sam, the yacht moored at slip 46 is registered to the Chinese consulate...it's signed out to Chin Lo Hiramoto..."

"Any relation to the Chin Lo that hired King," Callen demanded.

"Callen, it's his brother..."Eric said slowly.

"Damn it," no one had to voice just how dire the situation was becoming.

Eric's frantic voice again came over the coms, "Guys, the yacht, it's pulling out...it's leaving its slip..."

Callen and Sam exchanged grim looks, "Faster Sam."

**...NCIS LA...NUMB3RS...NCIS LA...NUMB3RS...NCIS LA...**

OOPS...not quite done after all...god, this chapter was hard to write...and for anyone who might have thought it was weird that Sam seemed to be calling the shots at the take down...let's remember, he was the Navy SEAL and is well versed in these kind of operations and tactical...and he is not only rescuing one of his own (Deeks), but he's rescuing a fellow military man (Colby) so I imagine he, more than any of the other agents, might be taking all of this "real" personal...and we all know he can be a real 'mother hen'!


	13. Chapter 13

KING'S RETURN

/Chapter 13/

A/N: I'm trying...I really am, but this is proving much, much harder than I anticipated...there are sooo many ways this last bit could go down, I'm having a rough time deciding how much "whumping" I'm gonna do...

...also, take all medical info with a grain of salt. I researched what I could but could not find out exactly the information I was looking for...so I am manipulating it to suit my needs and purpose... so, as we suspend belief to watch our favorite TV shows...so, too, suspend belief for the sake of this story line...

**...NCIS LA...NUMB3RS...NCIS LA...NUMB3RS...NCIS LA...**

A slap across the face and a bucket of icy water dousing him roused the semi-conscious man to wakefulness.

Deeks shook his head, trying to clear the water from his eyes and the fogginess from his head; his eyes scanned the barren room, before coming to rest on his captors.

After a moment of tense silence on both sides one man stepped apart from the others to stand in front of the tied man, "Nothing to say Mr. Deeks?"

Without missing a beat, his usual cheekiness absent, the detective met the man's cold eyes and responded tonelessly, "you're under arrest."

The men continued to lock eyes...trying to get a read on the other. The detective knew he and his team had finally run out of time; that he was not likely, at this point, to get out of this alive. He let his mind briefly touch on Colby, wondering what had become of the FBI agent, knowing somehow that no matter what he himself was facing at the hands of Cho Lin, Colby's fate would be a thousand times worse; and he offered up a silent plea to any god who deigned to hear, that his teammates (and Colby's) would not let their disappearance and deaths go un-avenged.

"Mr. King said you were an insolent bastard," the Chinese man said with a dry chuckle, taking a step away from Deeks and hitting him again across the face. "Perhaps the first thing we should do is cut out your tongue."

The thought terrified the detective; yeah, in his time as cop, he'd been threatened and beat up by thugs and drug dealers, been in some tight undercover situations; but here...now, he was facing down people who used honest to goodness torture as the first line of assault...and from their casual stance also appeared to enjoy the work: and for the briefest of moments cold terror clutched at his heart...he was trained as a cop for god's sakes, not some international spy or agent...

...an agent, wait...an agent...maybe not in any official sense—but he had served in the capacity of an NCIS agent for a few years now and the sudden thought of giving in to his fears, of letting his team mates down was not an option.

Thinking quickly he decided to play on the man's want for revenge and said impertinently, "What, and miss the chance to hear me 'beg' for mercy...maybe give up a few state secrets..."

The man was back in Deeks space in a heartbeat, grabbing the detective's hair and pulling his head back painfully; causing Deeks to gasp out in pain.

"Beg for mercy...now **that** _would_ be music to my ears detective; but somehow I don't think that's the kind of man you really are," Lo Chin said in a low, vicious voice, the blade that suddenly appeared in his hand, gently caressing the side of the detective's face.

"Hey, a relationship is all about change..." Deeks replied cheekily though discomfort colored his tone. He decided, if he was going to die at this man's hand he was going to do it on his terms..."you may kill me, but you won't get away with this. My team **will** find you, and you won't get off as easy as your brother did...won't give you a chance to go all Hari-Kari..."

Lo Chin released his grip on Deeks hair, shoving his head forward and causing the detective to cough harshly at the sudden change in pressure to his neck and throat muscles.

"If it is your intention to anger me into killing you quickly you are sadly mistaken...my brother suffered for weeks..." the man said pointedly, continuing almost conversationally, "I never imagined that my vengeance would actually have the chance to come to fruition...never thought it would be anything but a festering wound, that would lay bare until the day I died: but now I have one of you that caused my family such shame and despair...you and your team shall suffer every bit as much as he did."

Fear swelled in his gut again as he spat out, "You won't catch them...they're to damn smart for you..."

The man cocked an eyebrow and smiled thinly, "There are many, **many** ways to make one suffer, Mr. Deeks, without **ever **laying a finger on them."

Unable to help himself, Deeks asked guardedly, "What the hell is that supposed to mean?"

Cho Lin just favored the detective with a cruel smile before turning to one of the other men standing in the room, "you know what to do..."

Though knowing it was useless, Deeks still struggled against his bonds as two men approached him, one uncapping a syringe.

"What the hell, what is that..." Deeks demanded as one of the men grabbed his arm to steady it while the other jabbed him with the needle, empting the clear liquid into his veins.

Within seconds he felt a burning sensation up his arm, he was suddenly finding it difficult to breathe, his heart felt like it was going to hammer out of his chest and his vision was starting to gray around the edges...

**...NCIS LA...NUMB3RS...NCIS LA...NUMB3RS...NCIS LA...**

The SUV tore through the narrow streets of the port, the six minute drive from the freighter to the marina like a lifetime to the agents...

Finally skidding to a stop, the agents poured from the SUV and ran down the pier to the slip...the empty mooring taunting them; they all scanned the open ocean...

"There, two o'clock...that has to be it," Callen called, pointing to a boat that was quickly shrinking from view in the distant horizon.

"Eric, call up the Coast Guard..." Sam demanded.

"Sam, it would take nearly twenty minutes to get to your location," Eric reported.

"Damn..."

"We don't have that kind of time," Kensi yelled, looking around frantically, finally coming to a decision, she hoped onto a large speed boat.

"Call them up and lock onto our GPS signals, but tell them to hang back until they hear from us," Callen directed, jumping into the boat behind Kensi.

Kensi was already under the wheelhouse pulling out wires when Sam jumped onto the boat, followed seconds later by David.

David couldn't help a raised eyebrow, as he saw Kensi unstringing and stripping wires...

"Piece of cake...she hotwired a Cessna once," Sam said with an amused chuckle, as he undid the mooring ropes.

Standing over Kensi, at the wheel, Callen immediately throttled up the boat as the engine sprang to life; and it shot out of its slip so quickly it caused the agents to scramble for footing.

Though the yacht was clearly some miles ahead of them already, the agents easily kept it in sight and were making some gains, the occupants of the yacht unaware, at the moment, that they were being followed.

"We can't keep this up forever, it's not gonna take them long to realize were tailing them," Sam said grimly. "We need a plan."

"I'm betting the tourist in distress isn't gonna work on these guys," Kensi said.

Callen looked over to his partner and shrugged, "I was plannin' on just shootin' 'em."

"Direct approach..." David questioned.

"I don't like it, they could kill Deeks before we have a chance to board," Sam countered.

"So, a little bait and switch..." Kensi said, as she pulled opened a storage hatch and showed it to Sam.

Sam nodded in understanding, reaching into the storage locker.

**...NCIS LA...NUMB3RS...NCIS LA...NUMB3RS...NCIS LA...**

Lo Chin watched the struggling man with calculated detachment, knowing the poison that was administered was not a lethal dose. Seeing the fear in the eyes of one that he held responsible for his brother's death, as Deeks struggled to take in a breath, gave Lo Chin a perverse sense of satisfaction. His mind toying with ideas on how to make the rest of the NCIS team suffer right along with their struggling team mate.

His musings were intruded upon by a rap at the steel door.

He watched impatiently as one of his men answered the door to deal with the intrusion to his sport, "Well, what is it?"

The man nodded to the intruder, who quickly took his leave, before turning to his boss to report, "There is another boat that seems to be on an intercept course with us...the captain says it is moving at full throttle and it changes course with us."

Lo Chin's face became thunderous in its sudden anger, "King assured me that NCIS was not anywhere near figuring out what happened to their man. _I __**won't **__be denied my vengeance_..."

"But it has to be his people...they've found us somehow..." one of his men said cautiously.

Anger suddenly drained from the man's face, to be replaced with a thoughtful look, "Perhaps it was **meant** for my enemies to suffer their fate together; that I see the face of my enemies as they realize they have lost...as my vengeance is complete..." Lo Chin said with a gleam of madness in his eyes.

**...NCIS LA...NUMB3RS...NCIS LA...NUMB3RS...NCIS LA...**

Kensi lowered the binoculars from her eyes and said tightly, "Something's going on...the boat is slowing..."

With a tight grimace, Callen let up on the throttle, stating the obvious, "They know we're following them."

"So they're letting us catch up," David questioned, "Why does that not strike me as a good thing?"

"It's not," Callen agreed.

"So, now what..." David asked.

With a shrug, Callen replied, "we catch up."

Within minutes Callen had caught up to the yacht, that had throttled down and was now gently drifting in the calm sea.

The agents eyed the yacht with suspicion, drawing their weapons, as Callen throttled down the speed boat when they got to within twenty feet of their target.

Kensi and Callen exchanged grim looks, "I don't like this...it's too quiet...where's the 'welcoming' committee; what is Lo Chin playing at?"

Indeed, the agents were more than a little unnerved by the lack of resistance...and gunfire...trading uncertain looks, Callen called out loudly-

"Lo Chin, this is NCIS...you are ordered to prepare for boarding."

The man in question, flanked by two of his men, came into view on the deck, "This is sovereign ground and these are international waters...by what right do you demand boarding this vessel?"

"You are charged with conspiracy and kidnapping of a federal agent," Callen shot back.

Lo Chin raised an eyebrow, asking with feigned innocence, "Really, and you would suspect such a thing of me-why?"

"Stan King is in custody...it's over..." Kensi said deliberately, her weapon trained on Lo Chin, she demanded, "Where is he-where is Deeks?"

Lo Chin took on a thoughtful countenance for a moment, "Deeks? Should that name be familiar to me?"

"I'm about three seconds from putting a bullet in you..."Kensi spat out angrily, "Now tell me...where-is-my-partner?"

Chin smiled disarmingly at the agents and stepped back with a sweeping motion, "By all means agents, in the name of international cooperation, board this vessel and see for your selves."

Of all the things they were expecting (a bloody firefight or a hostage situation ranking at the top of their list); an open invitation to board the vessel was not one of them.

The agents exchanged uncertain looks, prompting the Chinese man to taunt lightly, "And now you hesitate...why is that? Do you now **doubt** your information; which is it agents—you are either convinced he is here **or **you _will_ cease and desist this harassment and let me be on my way."

"Callen? We can't let him leave," Kensi questioned.

"It would be rude not to take the man up on his offer," Callen replied quietly.

"I'd rather just shoot him," Kensi snarked.

"And how long do you think Deeks would stay alive if we started a firefight?" Callen answered.

"You know it has to be a trap, right, he's not gonna just let you freely search his yacht and find your man," David supplied, "he wants his revenge on all of you...and you just want to walk right into the lions den."

"Right now, it's all we got...we can't back down now...we either board or let them go," Callen replied, adding, "...until we get eyes on Deeks we can't risk engaging Lo Chin and his men; we don't know how many men he has...they could kill him before we take down Lo's men..."

"For the record, I really hate this idea," David said, blowing out a breath.

"You and me both, Sinclair...you and me both," Callen answered, turning to the yacht he said, "We accept you offer..."

While Kensi and David kept their guns on Lo Chin and his two men, Callen maneuvered the speed boat closer to the yacht; a rope ladder was tossed over the side for the agents to board the vessel.

Callen boarded first, Kensi and David still standing alert, weapons aimed; the agent quickly drawing his weapon as soon as he had his feet planted on the deck.

To his surprise, Lo Chin and his men just stood there waiting as the rest of the agents boarded the boat, drawing their weapons in similar fashion.

His head nodding towards the drawn weapons, Lo Chin asked, "Is such an inimical display necessary...my men are unarmed..."

"I doubt that..." Callen shot back with a smirk.

"Then I shall rephrase—these men offer you no threat or resistance...as do I," Lo Chin replied, waving his hand around the boat, "So where do you wish start your search?"

"Whatever we do we are not separating..." David said pointedly.

"Agreed," Callen said, looking to Chin he said, "We'll start on deck and move below...one room at a time, nice and slow..."

Spreading his arms wide he answered, "As you wish."

Chin and his two men led the way, followed by Callen, Kensi and David watching their rear flank as they first checked out the command deck, then the main room of the deck.

The room was ornate, decorated in expensive Chinese art and silks, the wood a mix of cedar and cherry; a large, 500 gallon -tank taking up a far wall.

"You're in the middle of an ocean and you need a fish tank on your yacht," Callen snarked, as he peered at the exotic fish in the tank.

"Reminds me of home," Chin replied unapologetic.

"Whatever," Callen huffed, waving his gun slightly, "now the lower decks...and we're gonna want to see every room..."

"By all means, agent..." Chin said unconcernedly, waving the agents to follow him like he was giving a tour for 'Better Homes & Gardens', "do follow me."

Guns still in their hands, the agents followed Lo Chin and his men down into the lower deck of the yacht. At each door, Chin opened it with a flourish and stepped back to allow the agents access, smiling smugly as they cleared each room.

They had searched a small kitchen area, three staterooms and a room that amounted to a mini-med bay and were growing increasingly frustrated when Chin asked mildly, "Satisfied?"

"No," Callen barked, getting up into Chin's face, "we know he's here somewhere..."

"You've searched the** entire** yacht, agent," Chin challenged, not backing away from Callen.

"Not everywhere...that door there, it leads to the engine and maintenance rooms," Kensi said.

"Now, that wouldn't be a very hospitable place to house a guest; now, would it," Chin replied, his tone issuing a subtle challenge.

With a huff, Callen answered the challenge by raising his weapon to within inches of Chin's forehead, "No, it wouldn't...so let' see it."

With an indifferent shrug, Lo Chin said, "Very well, don't want to disappoint after all..."

They again followed Chin and his two lackeys down into the engine area, finally coming to an over-large, sliding steel door at the aft end of the boat.

"What's in there?" David demanded, waving a gun at the door.

"A locked door, always holds surprises...don't you agree," Chin said.

The three agents raised their weapons, "Open the damn door." Callen demanded.

"Such impatience..." Chin said, waving to one of his men to unlock the door and slide it open...the sight that greeted them filled them with surprise, rage, terror and relief.

Relief flooded through them as the first thing their eyes rested on inside the barren room was Marty Deeks...

**...NCIS LA...NUMB3RS...NCIS LA...NUMB3RS...NCIS LA...**

A/N: sorry to cut off the rescue here, but the chapter was proving to be too long (and complicated)...so, now we have 4 agents in need of rescuing...but I swear its almost over.../I almost wish this was a XO with 5-0, Sam could really use Steve's help with all this/


	14. Chapter 14

**KING'S RETURN**

/CHAPTER 14/

A/N: if you're not familiar with the whole "spy" debacle in season four of "Numb3rs", David "loosing" it isn't gonna make much sense to you...those of you that do know, sorry if David seems a little OOC, but I needed someone to be a little off their game to advance the plot...he was a good choice, since this situation would have touched on some raw and painful memories for him...

...and I think I am finally...finally...finishing this story

**...NCIS LA...NUMB3RS...NCIS LA...NUMB3RS...NCIS LA...NUMB3RS...NCIS LA...NUMB3RS...NCIS LA...**

_**Relief flooded through them as the first thing their eyes rested on inside the barren room was Marty Deeks...**_

Followed closely by terror...as Deeks head was bowed, small tremors shook his body and he appeared to be having difficulty breathing...

And finally rage at the man standing behind their detective, his hand holding a syringe, his thumb resting on the plunger that was sticking into an IV line that lead into Deeks arm.

"Surprise..." Chin said.

"Get away from him...NOW..." Kensi barked out, taking several steps closer to the man threatening her partner.

Kensi, her gun aimed at the man menacing her partner left David and Callen the opportunity to turn their weapons on Chin and his two men.

"What the hell did you do to him," Callen demanded, "I swear to god...he dies...you die..."

Lo Chin rolled his eyes, "Such melodrama; you American's watch way to much TV."

With that he waved his arm and several more men came out of hiding, guns drawn on the agents.

"Now, I know what is going through your minds...plans just racing through your minds on how to take me down...am I right" Chin said conversationally, wagging a finger at the two agents, "but if I were you I wouldn't try anything heroic...while it is true you might easily disarm my men, being the well trained American agents that you are," the last part said with flippant sarcasm before he motioned to Deeks, "your agent would be dead before you could say,- 'you're under arrest'."

"Wouldn't be too sure of that Lo Chin," Kensi said evenly.

"Can you shoot my man before he can push the plunger on the syringe he's holding...shall I tell you what will flood the veins of your agent?" Chin said.

Callen cocked his head, "Tetrodotoxin..."

"What..." David asked.

"The poison...its tretodotoxin...from the puffer fish in the tank upstairs..." Callen supplied.

Lo Chin quirked an eyebrow, "I'm impressed agent Callen."

"Callen..." Kensi gasped, "it's lethal..."

"No always..."Callen supplied.

"Quite correct...in small doses it does not kill, but it does produce some very painful and terrifying side effects; all of which can be counteracted with the right treatment..." Lo Chin supplied.

"Then help him...NOW," Kensi growled out, "If anything happens to my partner we have no reason to let you live, Lo Chin."

"Certainly...just hand over your weapons to my men and step into the room...the medication your man needs to lesson his symptoms is on the table," The man explained.

"Why should we believe you," David demanded.

"Because if I had wanted you to find Detective Deeks dead Agent Hannah, he would already be dead..." Lo Chin answered.

"What...wait, you..." David started to correct the man when Callen cut him off.

"Yeah, agent _Hannah_ gets it...we all get it Lo Chin," Callen said with a pointed look towards the FBI agent.

"Callen..." a thousand questions in a single word.

Callen gave Kensi a guarded look before he raised his hands, his gun dangling from his finger...with a shake of his head, David followed suit and with frustration evident in every movement, Kensi did likewise.

"Oh, and your phones..."

With angry sighs the agents turned over their cells, watching as Lo Chin's men stepped from the room and slid the door shut.

The three agents immediately turned to their injured team mate...Kensi attempting to untie his bonds while Callen checked his vitals as best he could; leaving David picking up the syringe and fingering it with trepidation.

"You can't tell me you trust this guy..." David said angrily.

"No, I don't, he plans on killing us—that much is obvious, but he wants us to suffer first...he's not gonna let us off this easy..." Callen said, holding out his hand for the syringe.

Eying Callen's outstretched hand then the syringe in his hand, David ground out angrily, "This easy..._this is easy_, what is so damn easy about your man being poisoned—maybe dying...what's so easy about trusting that this might be a cure rather than what will kill him..."

Callen shot up from his kneeling position and grabbed David's arm, pulling the syringe from his tight grip, "Sinclair...what's going on with you...you gotta hold it together man..."

David shrugged angrily out of Callen's grasp, stepping away from the agent and running his hands down his face. He looked over to where Kensi was carefully lowering her partner to the floor, then turned and leaned on one arm against the wall, "I can't do this again, can't watch...it's too much like...; too much like when Colby was...they almost killed him...they took him, they took him just like this...out in the middle of nowhere...pumped him full of drugs—tortured him."

David turned to face Callen, his voice tight with ill-suppressed emotion, his eyes dilated and haunted, "We...we lost him, my partner, _**he **__**was**__** dead**_...his heart stopped, he wasn't breathin'...but somehow, somehow, he came back...but it was close...too damn close..."

Kensi looked up from her position beside her partner, surprise and understanding on her face, "He's not dead, David—it looks bad, I know, but don't count him out yet."

Callen handed Kensi the syringe, then clasped a firm hand on David's shoulder, "We're gonna get out of this...Deeks and Colby are gonna be okay...but you gotta keep your head in the game...you got that: you with us...?"

Taking in another deep breath, he said more calmly, "I'm sorry...just to close, ya' know...I'm fine. Earlier, you didn't want me to correct Lo Chin...didn't want him to know Sam was still out there..."

"Lo Chin thinks he's secure in his position...that he has us where he wants us..." Callen said with a smirk. "We'll use that against him."

"How; need I point out the obvious—we're locked in here while the rest of our team is out there **and** our coms our out of range; that doesn't strike me as being on the winning team..." David reminded Callen.

"Eric has been tracking our GPS signals this whole time, the Coast Guard has been notified, and Sam's still out there..." Callen explained.

"He's one man..."

"He's one man with advanced tactical and SEAL training..." Callen said, "right now we just play along until the cavalry arrives."

"So, what, your plan is to sit here...and wait to be rescued..." David asked skeptically.

"More like bidding our time and waiting for a signal..." Callen said absently, reaching down and pulling up his pant leg to reveal a holster, "...and, no, they didn't get all the toys."

David raised his eyebrow in surprise, as Kensi gave a tight smile and she too pulled a gun from an ankle holster.

"You don't carry a back-up weapon," Kensi asked.

David shrugged self-consciously, and slowly raised his pant leg to reveal his back-up revolver, "Lot going on...didn't see a lot of use for a back-up when I was locked in a steel room...and we did have more pressing things on our minds at the time..."

Callen followed David's line of sight to rest of Deeks, "Kens, how is he?"

"He's breathing a little easier, but his heart rate is irregular..." Kensi reported from her position beside her partner.

With a grim look, Callen muttered, "Just hang on buddy...hang on; Sam, what the hell is taking you so long..."

**...NCIS LA...NUMB3RS...NCIS LA...NUMB3RS...NCIS LA...**

A dark figure slowly emerged from the water, grasping a mooring line hanging from the side of the yacht...the voices on the deck above drifting on the wind...

_Lo Chin asked, "Is such an inimical display necessary...my men are unarmed..."_

"_I doubt that..." Callen shot back with a smirk._

"_Then I shall rephrase—these men offer you no threat or resistance...as do I," Lo Chin replied, waving his hand around the boat, "So where do you wish start your search?"_

"_Whatever we do we are not separating..." David said pointedly._

"_Agreed," Callen said, looking to Chin he said, "We'll start on deck and move below...one room at a time, nice and slow..."_

_Spreading his arms wide he answered, "As you wish."_

Hearing the people on deck move off, Sam carefully climbed the rope and pulled himself up and over the rail, to land with a quite thump...his eyes quickly scanning for threat.

The Navy SEAL flattened himself against the deck as he watched Callen and the others move through the top cabin and then make their way down below deck.

Sam waited a few moments more to be sure none of Lo Chin's men doubled back above deck before making his way to the control deck. Peering into the room he saw one man at the helm and another man casually leaning against a chart table.

In seconds the guard was down for the count, succumbing to a classic chock hold; the captain immediately backed away in surrender when Sam scooped up the weapon from the floor, "Not one word."

Turning to the vast control panel, Sam picked up the radio and tuned it to the needed channel, "This is agent Sam Hannah, NCIS, requesting back-up at these co-ordinates...approach with caution, suspects have not been secured, repeat; suspects' are still at large...and **our** people are not secure..."

"This is Coast Guard Vessel Alpha...we read you loud and clear, we're on our way, damn it's about time...ETA six minutes..." Don's voice said over the radio. "Where are the others...?"

"Creating a diversion..." Sam said.

Sam made quick work securing the captain and downed guard before making his was towards the stairs that led to the lower decks, quickly ducking into a storage room when Lo Chin and several of his men appeared from below deck.

"Destroy the other vessel, then have the captain make way...I want as much distance between us and the mainland as possible before nightfall," Lo Chin ordered.

As his men moved off, Lo Chin went stepped into the main deck cabin; Sam watched from his hidden position as the man poured himself a drink, a satisfied smile crossing his face.

Sam weighed his options...in minutes the coast guard vessels would be in sight of the yacht and Lo Chin would easily recognize the markings, forcing the man to either try to outrun the Coast Guard of stand and fight; either way, he knew he needed to find his people before the fireworks started.

He made his way to the secondary stairwell that led to the below decks and meet with no resistance as he quickly checked all the rooms. He then made his way to the engine room. There were four of Lo Chin's men spread around the room.

He was contemplating how to take out the four guards when the blaring horns of multiple Coast Guard cutters rent the air so loudly it could be heard even in the engine room.

Sam couldn't help a smug grin as the four men exchanged startled looks and scrambling to the upper deck.

The ex-SEAL watched them rush past his position, stepping out when the last man disappeared from sight and giving a shrug, "that was easy," before turning to scan the room for where his team mates were being kept.

**...NCIS LA...NUMB3RS...NCIS LA...NUMB3RS...NCIS LA...**

Though muffled by the heavy steel door, the agents heard the loud, raucous popping noises that indicated heavy weapons fire, which was followed moments later by a sudden lurching of the yacht, nearly sending them all to their knees as they stumbled about the room trying to maintain their balance

Righting them-selves, David looked to Callen, "that the signal you were waiting for?"

Ear to the door, Callen held up a staying hand, nodding to Kensi and David to get in position.

Kensi pulled her weapon, standing over her downed partner while Callen and David took up positions on either side of the door.

The waited tensely as they heard the lock disengage and the door was slowly pulled open: Sam stumbled back in surprise as two bodies jumped out at him and two weapons appeared in his face.

"Whoa...whoa, whoa; stand down G, it's me..." Sam said quickly, holding his hands up to show he wasn't a threat.

The three agents lowered their weapons and gave audible sighs of relief as Sam quickly stepped into the room, "here I thought you guys needed a rescue."

Callen just smirked, nodding his head to indicate above board, "What's going on up there?"

"Epps and the Coast Guard should be rounding up Lo Chin and his men as we speak..." Sam said as his eyes scanned the agents for injuries, finally coming to rest on Deeks.

Answering the unspoken question, Callen said, "Poisoned...tetrodotoxin...but he's hangin' in there..."

"Let's get the hell out of here," Kensi said, turning to her partner.

David and Kensi hoisted the unconscious man between them and started to follow Sam and Callen out the door, when the two agents stopped and took a few steps back into the room.

"What...guys..."Kensi startled, but tensed when she saw the two men in front of her tense and raise their weapons.

Peering around the two men she saw the reason for their sudden edginess; at the door stood Lo Chin, in his hands an M-16 set on full automatic.

"How the hell did you slip past the Coast Guard," Sam demanded.

"It's my yacht," Chin replied off handedly, his eyes scanning over the group, giving special attention to the two dark-skinned agents, "will the real agent Hannah please stand up."

"It's over Lo Chin," Callen ground out, "the Coast Guard are rounding up you men...you've got no place to go...you're done..."

"Not quite yet, not before I have my revenge...not the way I planned it, too crude in my book," he monologue, giving the weapon in his hand a slight wave, "but efficient none the less, don't you think?"

Suddenly, Lo Chin stiffened...a 9mm suddenly at his temple, "Not as showy as a full spray but still efficient-a bullet to the brain...messy, but it get the job done, don't you think."

The agents breathed a collective sigh of relief as Don Epps took a step into their view, his gun steady at Lo Chin's temple while Megan came around and pulled the M-16 from his grasp and handed it off, before cuffing the man.

As Lo Chin was being led off, Don turned to the assembled group, "You guys alright?"

"We're good, but Deeks need a hospital...now..." Sam said.

**...NCIS LA...NUMB3RS...NCIS LA...NUMB3RS...NCIS LA...**

**EPILOGUE-**

_I'm forgoing the "usual" hospital scene(s) as they are so overdone and wanted to end the story on a lighter note..._

The men stood side by side staring out at the crashing surf, surfboards held tightly in their arms.

"Great swells today..." Colby commented.

"Agreed, can't wait to get out there," Deeks answered.

Colby looked over at Deeks, and down at his ankle, "It's not much, but don't forget to readjust for the weight..."

Giving Colby the same once over, eyes resting on a similar black "bracelet" adorning the FBI agents ankle that was on his he said, "yeah, back ach' ya'"

Continuing to stare out at the inviting surf, Deeks again spoke, "So how long do you think they're gonna keep this up?"

Colby looked behind him at a group of people clustered in a group on the beach, appearing to be setting up a picnic.

When Don saw Colby look up at them he waved a small device his direction and smiled, causing Colby to sigh heavily and grouse, "Don't know about you, but I'm guessing sometime short of retirement."

Both men exchanged put upon looks and headed for the water.

Back at the picnic shelter, Callen came up to Don, who was holding a small tracking device in his hands..."our boys still good?"

Don showed Callen the small screen that had two red blips, "yeah, right where they're supposed to be."

"So how long did you sign the ankle bracelets out for," Callen asked with a smirk.

"Only for the day...but they don't have to know that..."Don replied. "Colby draws trouble like honey draws ants..."

Both men chuckled, each grabbed a beer and rejoined the picnic...secure, for the moment, that they knew their teams...their families, were all safe—and all accounted for...

**...NCIS LA...NUMB3RS...NCIS LA...NUMB3RS...NCIS LA...**

_YEAH...I'm done...I'm done...I'm finally done ! Hope it didn't disappoint...that epilogue was easy to visualize—hard to write...but I hope it got the (amusing) point across..._

Now to finish a few others...

Stay tuned for future updates to "Interagency Co-operation" and "Sylvia"...and thanks for reading... ; )


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